Deportations Hit Record, Up 15%, INS Reports
The United States deported a record 51,600 illegal immigrants during 1995, a 15% increase over last year, according to a government report.
“This is the largest number of illegal aliens removed in one year since the INS has been keeping figures,” Paul Risley, a spokesman for the Immigration and Naturalization Service, said Wednesday.
The report, to be released today, comes as conservative Republicans in Congress push for measures to reduce legal immigration into the United States and to keep illegal immigrants from U.S. jobs by providing employers with information about applicants’ residency status through a federal database.
Risley attributed the increase in deportations in 1995 to better border enforcement and to increased vigilance in kicking out criminal illegal immigrants after they have served their prison or jail terms. Nearly two-thirds of the deportations in 1995 were expelled inmates, the INS said.
The deportation programs have been emphasized in five states--Illinois, Texas, Florida, California and New York--where large numbers of immigrants try to sneak into the United States, often in search of work, he said.
INS Commissioner Doris Meissner and Deputy Atty. Gen. Jamie S. Gorelick plan to discuss the report at a news conference today.
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