Deportations drop sharply in the past one year.
By Raif Karerat
The Obama administration deported the fewest number of immigrants in the past 12 months since 2006, according to government figures obtained by The Associated Press.
The overall total of 231,000 deportations generally does not include Mexicans who were caught at the border and quickly returned home by the U.S. Border Patrol. The figure does include roughly 136,700 convicted criminals deported in the last 12 months. Total deportations dropped 42 percent since 2012.
The figures also indicate that the deportation of criminal immigrants has dropped to the lowest numbers since President Barack Obama took office in 2009.
Obama has overseen the removal of more than 2.4 million immigrants since taking office, but deportations have been declining steadily in the last three years, reported Fox News. Removals declined by more than 84,000 between the 2014 and 2015 budget years, the largest year-over-year decline since 2012.
Meanwhile, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton thinks the President Barack Obama’s deportation policies are too strict.
In an interview with Telemundo, Clinton said Obama interpreted and enforced deportation laws “very aggressively during the last six and half years,” to try and “get Republicans to support comprehensive immigration reform.”
She did however say she supports his initiative to defer millions of immigrants in the U.S. illegally during his time in office, but plans to do more.
“We can’t wait any longer for a path to full and equal citizenship,” Clinton said during a roundtable discussion with young Nevadans with undocumented families, according to the Denver Sun Times. “This is where I differ with everybody on the Republican side. Make no mistakes: today, not a single Republican candidate, announced or potential, is clearly or consistently supporting a path to citizenship.”
The Democratic front-runner also told Telemundo that she would not use immigrants as a scapegoat and said she has seen too many “upright, productive people” who have been deported for minor or one-time offenses.