McALLEN, Texas — McALLEN, Texas (AP) — US Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported more than 270,000 people to 192 countries in the past 12 months, the highest annual number in a decade, according to a report released Thursday that illustrates some of the financial and operational challenges facing the president-elect Donald Trump will be faced with making good on his promise of mass deportations.
ICE, the main government agency responsible for removing people illegally in the country, had 271,484 deportations in the fiscal year ending September 30, nearly double the figure of 142,580 in the same period a year earlier.
It was ICE’s highest number of deportations since 2014, when it removed 315,943 people. The highest level during Trump’s first term in the White House was 267,258 in 2019.
Increased deportation flights, including on weekends, and streamlined travel procedures for people sent to Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador have fueled the increase, ICE said. The agency conducted its first major flight to China in six years and also stopped planes in Albania, Angola, Egypt, Georgia, Ghana, Guinea, India, Mauritania, Romania, Senegal, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Mexico was the most common destination for deportees (87,298), followed by Guatemala (66,435) and Honduras (45,923), the report said. It is expected that Mexico and the Central American countries will continue to do this become victims of the deportationspartly because these governments are more accepting of their respective citizens than others and the logistics are simpler.
Still, ICE’s detention space and personnel limited its reach as the number of people it polices through immigration courts continues to grow. The agency’s enforcement and removal unit has remained steady at about 6,000 officers over the past decade, while caseloads have roughly quadrupled to about 8 million people.
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Spagat reported from San Diego.