More entrant criminals face deportation

BLOOMBERG NEWS

The U.S. this year will mark for deportation more than 200,000 illegal immigrant criminals, a 22 percent increase from 164,000 in 2007, a senior Bush administration official said.

The planned removals reflect a stepped-up enforcement effort, said Julie Myers, the Homeland Security assistant secretary who runs Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The number marked for deportation last year was more than double the 64,000 in 2006.

"It means these folks won't get off onto the street and back into the community," Myers told reporters in Washington.

Immigration officials have been criticized by Democrats such as Rep. David Price of North Carolina, chairman of the House appropriations subcommittee that funds enforcement, for not doing more to send violent felons back to their home countries.

Myers said her agency is screening all criminals in federal and state prisons for potential immigration violations and is doing more to check on those kept in community jails.

Immigration authorities also are tracking down more illegal immigrants who have violated court orders to leave the country, she said.