INS Deported a Record 67,000, Report States

The Immigration and Naturalization Service is expected to announce this week that it deported a record 67,000 illegal immigrants during the last year, a 34% increase over 1995, as part of a continuing government campaign to crack down on illegal immigrants.

In California, deportations of illegal immigrants jumped about 50% to 30,000 during the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30.

The INS is expected to release its full year-end deportation report Tuesday. Initial estimates of its principal findings were provided to The Times on Sunday by a Clinton administration official who asked not to be identified.

The administration is calling attention to the deportation crackdown figures at a time when GOP presidential contender Bob Dole is aggressively criticizing President Clinton for doing too little to crack down on illegal immigration.

The year-end figures confirm the trend of rising deportations that the agency has been reporting on a monthly basis throughout the year. The dramatic increase follows a series of moves by the administration and Congress to increase funding for INS operations and to expedite the deportation process.

The immigration issue has come front and center in the presidential campaign, particularly as Dole has poured a significant amount of his final resources into electoral vote-rich California.

This week, Dole is airing a tough anti-illegal-immigration ad throughout the state, emphasizing the social and economic costs of the immigrant influx. He and other Republicans have also been hammering Clinton over reports that the INS has naturalized immigrants with criminal records because of inadequate background checks.

Asked to comment on Clinton’s record of increasing deportations, the Dole campaign released a statement questioning the depth of Clinton’s commitment: “Bill Clinton has talked tough when it comes to illegal immigration, but his administration has opposed just about every major attempt to curtail it.”

Among examples cited: Clinton’s opposition to California’s Proposition 187, which would deny most public benefits to illegal immigrants, and his insistence on stripping similar provisions from a bill Congress passed this year targeting illegal immigration. The Dole campaign also noted that Clinton in 1993 proposed eliminating 93 Border Patrol agents.

The Clinton administration characterized the forthcoming deportation statistics as solid evidence of its determination to hold the line on illegal immigration.

“We’re doing the job we were hired to do,” said an administration official familiar with the INS report. “Clinton has always followed two goals: We’re a nation of immigrants and a nation of laws. Those who break the law, whether at the border or the workplace, will pay a penalty.”

The record-setting 67,000 deportations in fiscal 1996 was up from 50,200 in 1995. Deportations totaled 43,500 in 1992, the last full year of the Bush administration.

The Clinton administration official attributed the jump in deportations to increased spending for INS operations during the Clinton years and to administration initiatives to speed up the deportation process.

For example, the Institutional Hearing Program, launched in California in 1994, is designed to identify criminal illegal immigrants while they are in federal or state prison. Deportation hearings are held within the prison, allowing for immediate deportation when the inmate is released.

“They go from the jail door to the bus door,” the administration official said.

Another initiative known as Port Court, begun in San Diego in 1995, makes it harder for excluded immigrants to enter the United States. The plan calls for keeping better records on people who are turned away because they have fraudulent documents.

In 1996, spending for deportation and detention by the INS increased by $128 million to a total of about $478 million. About 1,400 people have been hired so far this year for deportation and detention work.

Of the 67,000 immigrants deported in 1996, 37,000 were criminals. Noncriminal deportations included cases such as people caught with expired visas. The total does not include people who voluntarily return to their own country or those who are deported without a formal hearing, including immigrants caught at the border and turned back immediately.

The 1996 figures mark the second year in a row that deportations have increased since Clinton took office. During the last three years, a total of 160,000 immigrants have been sent away. In California, 65,000 illegal immigrants were deported during the last three years, including 38,000 criminals.