U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported more than 270,000 people to 192 countries over a recent 12-month period, the highest annual tally in a decade, according to a report released Thursday that illustrates some of the financial and operational challenges that President-elect Donald Trump will face to carry out his pledge of mass deportations.
ICE, the main government agency responsible for removing people in the country illegally, had 271,484 deportations in its fiscal year ended September 30, nearly double from 142,580 in the same period a year earlier.
It was ICE’s highest deportation count since 2014, when it removed 315,943 people. The highest it reached during Trump’s first term in the White House was 267,258 in 2019.
Increased deportation flights, including on weekends, and streamlined travel procedures for people sent to Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador fuelled the increase, ICE said. The agency had its first large flight to China in six years and also had planes stop in Albania, Angola, Egypt, Georgia, Ghana, Guinea, India, Mauritania, Romania, Senegal, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Source: VOA