Despite President Trump’s zealous immigration enforcement rhetoric, his administration has deported few illegal immigrants than Barack Obama’s had at this point in his term.
With four months still remaining, the Trump administration has deported 282,242 illegal immigrants this fiscal year, its highest annual total since Trump took office, but still significantly fewer than Obama deported in each of the early years of his administration, according to Department of Homeland Security data review by Axios.
Under Obama, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deported more than 385,000 immigrants each fiscal year from 2009-2011 before reaching a high of 409,849 in 2012. In contrast, the Trump administration deported only 226,119 in fiscal year 2017, and roughly 250,000 in fiscal year 2018.
As he launched his 2020 reelection campaign last week, Trump vowed to deport “millions” of illegal immigrants.
….long before they get to our Southern Border. Guatemala is getting ready to sign a Safe-Third Agreement. The only ones who won’t do anything are the Democrats in Congress. They must vote to get rid of the loopholes, and fix asylum! If so, Border Crisis will end quickly!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 18, 2019
Record numbers of asylum-seekers arriving at the southern border each day have overwhelmed Department of Health and Human Services resources. Trump administration officials have continuously urged lawmakers for months to provide more funding to shelter and provide medical care for migrants, many of whom are women and children.
The Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday approved a $4.6 billion spending bill to address the deteriorating border situation.
The majority of the funds — $2.9 billion — will go toward improving conditions for migrants in HHS facilities, while $793 million will go toward improving conditions at Customs and Border Patrol facilities, where migrants are housed until they can be transferred to HHS shelters – a process that now regularly exceeds the 72-hour time limit imposed by federal regulations.
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told Fox and Friends Monday that the bill will go to the floor for a vote next week.