US Deported Immigrants Dropped in 2015

The United States deported fewer immigrants in 2015 than in the past 15 years, an Obama administration report revealed Tuesday.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released its end of Fiscal Year 2015 statistics, which reflect the U.S. immigration enforcement efforts that prioritize convicted criminals and threats to public safety, border security, and national security.

DHS says the drop in deportations is largely due to the decline in arrests at the U.S. border, which it says reflects a lower level of attempted illegal migration.

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement branch of DHS arrested 337,000 people trying to enter the country illegally in 2015, the second lowest apprehension number since 1972. It deported about 235,000 of them.

The arrest rate is a 30 percent decline since fiscal year 2014, when the Border Patrol made 486,652 arrests. It is an almost 80 percent decline since the peak of arrests in fiscal year 2000.

In 2015, Border Patrol arrests of Mexican nationals decreased by 18 percent from a year earlier and arrests of individuals from other countries, predominately from Central America, decreased by 68 percent.

An estimated number of 11 million immigrants live in the country illegally.