Obama vs Trump: how the policy of arresting and deporting illegal immigrants has changed

US President Donald Trump has long insisted on a tougher approach to illegal immigration, both on the US-Mexico border and in other parts of the country. As a presidential candidate, Trump promised to build a border wall to reduce the number of illegal immigrants. Writes about it Pew Research.

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Shortly after the election, Trump announced that his administration would deport up to 3 million illegal immigrants with a criminal record living in the United States.

Below are data on three key measures—border apprehensions, domestic arrests, and deportations—based on the latest available statistics for the full year from Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The analysis also includes data on how various immigration policies and agencies are perceived by the U.S. public, based on Pew Research Center surveys.

The number of apprehensions of undocumented immigrants at the U.S.-Mexico border rose to its highest level in 2019 years in fiscal year 12. The 851 arrests recorded last fiscal year (October 508 to September 2018) were more than double the year before (2019) but still far below levels in the early 396s.

The increase in fears is associated with an increase in the number of asylum seekers. The demographic profile of people crossing the border has also changed: the majority of people detained last year were people traveling in families, not single adults.

Most of the detainees were from the countries of the Northern Triangle, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, who struggled with violence and lack of economic opportunities in their countries. This represents a significant gap from the 2000s and early 2010s, when Mexicans made up the vast majority of detainees.

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The dramatic increase in the number of asylum-seeking families in Central America has led the CBP to call “a humanitarian crisis and a crisis on the border of national security.” In response, the Trump administration has made far-reaching changes to asylum procedures to discourage immigrants from entering the United States along the southwestern border.

One notable change is the policy, unofficially known as “Stay in Mexico,” according to which many asylum seekers on the southwestern border wait in Mexico while their applications are pending.

In the past, many immigrants detained at the border waited in the U.S.—on average for years—before their cases were resolved.

When it comes to public opinion, Americans consider various political steps important to tackle the situation on the border. In a July 2019 Pew Research Center survey, 86% of U.S. adults said it was important to increase the number of judges handling asylum cases, and 82% said it was important to provide safe conditions for asylum seekers upon arrival .

At the same time, about three quarters (74%) said it was important to reduce the number of people coming to the United States in search of asylum, while 69% said it was important to increase assistance to countries of origin of asylum seekers.

Arrests of illegal immigrants in the interior of the country

While the CBP enforces immigration laws at the border, the ICE is tasked with detaining illegal immigrants domestically. The number of internal arrests conducted by ICE (known as “administrative arrests”) increased by 30% in fiscal year 2017 after Trump signed a decree giving the agency broader powers to detain illegal immigrants, including without a criminal record.

They rose again in fiscal 2018, but fell in fiscal 2019 and remain much lower than during President Barack Obama’s first term.

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In an annual report detailing his operations, ICE pointed out several factors explaining the decrease in internal arrests in fiscal 2019. The growing border enforcement needs “jeopardized ICE’s ability to enforce internal affairs,” the agency said.

They also pointed to the “lack of cooperation from an increasing number of jurisdictions across the country”, as well as to “refuge cities”, which have a policy of restricting cooperation with federal immigration authorities.

Under the Trump administration, the ICE was criticized by Democrats, some of whom called for the abolition of the agency. In a survey conducted in September 2019, only 19% of Democrats expressed a positive opinion about the agency compared to 70% among Republicans and Republican Party supporters.

ICE was the only federal department—out of 16 in the survey—that was viewed more negatively than positively by the public (54% negative vs. 42% positive).

The deportation of illegal immigrants

Illegal immigrants detained at the border or in the interior of the country may be subject to deportation, formally known as “expulsion”.

In fiscal 2018, the most recent year for which complete data is available, CBP and ICE together carried out 337 deportations of illegal aliens, up 287% from the previous year, according to the Department of Homeland Security. But deportations remained below levels recorded during much of the Obama administration, including the three-year period between fiscal years 17 and 2012 when there were more than 2014 a year.

ICE, which deals with most deportations, said in a recent report that its expulsion operations faced several problems, including the growing backlog of cases in immigration courts and “judicial and legal restrictions” that make it difficult for minors and illegal family members to be deported.

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Just over half of Americans (54%) said in a September 2019 Pew Research Center poll that increasing the number of deportations is a very important goal of immigration policy. But these views were sharply divided by party: about eight out of ten Republicans (83%) supported this policy, compared with only three out of ten Democrats (31%).

The increase in the number of deportations has taken a lower place in the list of public priorities than some other steps, such as increasing security along the US-Mexico border and creating conditions for legal residence of immigrants who are legally in the United States.

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