Feb 9, 2018
The number of undocumented immigrants arrested in the United States rose to a three-year high in 2017, reversing several years of decline, according to new figures.
Pew Research Center, a think-tank, said on Thursday that a total of 143,470 people were held by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials last year – up 30 percent compared with 2016.
ICE enforces federal immigration laws inside the US and has the power to detain and deport undocumented immigrants.
“The surge began after President Donald Trump took office in late January [2017],” the Centre, which analysed ICE statistics on administrative arrests, said in a statement.
Administrative arrest is the term used to describe the arrest of an undocumented immigrant in civil violation of US immigration laws.
The largest increase in arrests was recorded in Florida, northern Texas and Oklahoma, Pew said. More than 16,500 arrests were recorded in the Dallas area of Texas alone.
Arrests also jumped by more than 50 percent between 2016 and 2017 in the areas around the cities of New Orleans, Atlanta, Boston and Detroit.
However, ICE arrests across the US were twice as high in 2009, the year Trump’s predecessor, former US President Barack Obama, came into office.
ICE officers carried out nearly 298,000 arrests in 2009, but “this total generally declined in subsequent years,” Pew reported.
