NY Times: Trump’s Deportation Efforts ‘Not So Unusual’

President Donald Trump’s deportation of hundreds of criminal illegal immigrants during his first month in office is “no so unusual,” according to The New York Times.

In analysis by the New York Times, Trump’s deportation effort to prioritize the removal of criminal illegal immigrants by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency shows that the enforcement actions are “not unprecedented”:

Last week, United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials arrested more than 680 people in at least 12 states, shown below, stoking fears that the Trump administration is increasing the arrests and deportations of undocumented immigrants.

But a comparison of last week’s arrests and similar ones during the first four years of the Obama presidency show that the recent level of enforcement activity is not unprecedented.

It is unclear, however, if the numbers are an actual increase in enforcement, because information on operations in only 12 states was disclosed.

The New York Times analysis then described how Trump’s deportation efforts are on par with Obama’s, citing that the Obama administration “arrested an average of 675 immigrants a week in so-called ‘community arrests’.”

In Obama’s first term in office, the analysis notes that ICE agents arrested over 35,000 illegal immigrants, more arrests than any year in the previous four years of former President George W. Bush:

The weekly average of such arrests made by Immigration and Customs Enforcement fugitive teams under President Obama rose to 771 in 2011 and declined slightly to 719 the next year.

Data after 2012 are not readily available, but in more recent years, the number of ICE apprehensions and removals decreased overall, especially after the Obama administration began to focus on convicted criminals.

In Mr. Obama’s two terms in office, there were at least six known operations in which more than 500 people were arrested, according to an analysis by The New York Times.

Opponents of Trump’s plans, though, told the New York Times that the difference between Obama’s deportation efforts and the current model, is that Trump uses a “broader definition” when referring to criminal illegal immigrants.

The Obama administration was careful to say that only people who had very serious charges or were recent arrivals were priorities for enforcement, but now, everyone is a priority, Mr. Capps said.

Under Obama, nearly 90 percent of the illegal immigrants deported by ICE were convicted criminals. Trump, on the other hand, takes into consideration illegal immigrants who have committed serious crimes, misdemeanors and those who have simply crossed the border.

Some 75 percent of the 680 illegal immigrants arrested by ICE last week were convicted of crimes. The raids also included those who had illegally re-entered the U.S. and who had been ordered for removal.

John Binder is a contributor for Breitbart Texas. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.