The proportion of arrests in the US to irregular immigrants who have not been convicted of any crime increased in the first half of fiscal year 2018 under the Donald Trump government, according to data provided today by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). .
In the first six months of the 2018 fiscal year, which will be the first full year under Trump’s command, the proportion of arrests of irregular immigrants who had not been convicted of any crime with respect to the total number of arrests of this group was greatly increased.
According to data from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE) published today, the number of people arrested in this category went from 13,243 (21.15% of the total) in that period of 2017, to 26,547 (33, 5%) in the first half of this fiscal year, which runs from October to March.
The proportion of arrests of this group of people who have not been convicted grew for the second year in a row, the second with Trump, since in 2016 the percentage was barely 12.66%.
“Many of the non-criminals (those not convicted of a crime) were not a priority of the previous administration, but now they are, that’s why criminals are a smaller percentage, but they are still our main focus,” Corey explained. Price, senior official of the Agency for the Application of the Law and Deportation Operations (ERO) of ICE.
The Government of Barack Obama (2009-2017) focused efforts on deporting those who had committed a crime, but Trump decided to expand the range and expel those who are accused of a crime but whose guilt has not been proven, which for many organizations violates the principle of presumption of innocence.
These data are framed in a context in which the Trump Administration has intensified its rhetoric and its actions against irregular immigration, entering into conflict with the so-called “sanctuary cities” that protected from deportation the undocumented by abstaining from applying certain immigration laws.
“In areas where we are challenged by local authorities that do not cooperate with us, our agents have to make a greater number of non-criminal arrests,” Price argued, referring to areas such as the state of California.
In addition, the total number of arrests also increased, from 62,623 irregular immigrants detained in the first half of fiscal year 2017 to 79,286 in this section of 2018.
It is also the second consecutive year of increases, since in fiscal year 2016, the arrests reached 54,035.
Regarding the deportations registered in that period, the number of cases between 2017 and 2018 was reduced, from 125,607 to 116,003, although these figures only include data until April 7 of this year.
In the first half of fiscal year 2016, the figure was similar to that collected this year, with 117,391 deportations. efe
