A Nation of (Deported) Immigrants

The Valenzuelas' cases are not unique. The Obama administration removed more people during each of the last two years than in any other year in U.S. history. Despite the administration's insistence that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is focusing its efforts on dangerous, violent criminals, both anecdotal and statistical evidence prove otherwise. In 2009, the number of removed individuals who had never been convicted of a crime was more than twice the number of those that had. In October 2010, ICE released its 2010 deportation statistics, celebrating the removal of a record 195,772 criminals. Although this represents a 52.5 percent increase from 2009, it should not overshadow the fact that non-criminals still made up more than half of the 392,862 removals. Moreover, some of the criminals removed were people like the Valenzuelas, who committed minor offenses years—or decades—ago.