More Crackdown Politics
by digby
Lest anyone worries that escalating drone plane attacks, celebrated assassinations and prosecuting medical marijuana won't be enough to persuade the public that the Obama administration is tougher than tough, this ought to allay their concerns:
Today, Immigration and Customs Enforcement director John Morton announced that 396,906 people were deported during the 2011 fiscal year, the largest number in ICE’s history.
“These year-end totals indicate that we are making progress, with more convicted criminals, recent border crossers, egregious immigration law violators and immigration fugitives being removed from the country than ever before,” said Morton.
While the numbers are historic, they’re not dramatically larger than 2010 deportations, which were reported at “more than 392,000.”
As Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano alluded a few weeks ago, 55 percent of the deported immigrants — about 216,700 people — had criminal convictions (felonies or misdemeanors). Overall, the number of criminals deported has increased 89 percent since 2008.
That's quite an achievement. I'm not sure who the administration thinks its serving, but I can pretty much guarantee that it won't be rewarded electorally for being so hardcore. In fact, they have to know that they will pay a price for it. So the only thing one can conclude is that they truly believe it's the right thing to do.
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