The US is increasing arrests of immigrants, mainly at the Mexican border.
Most were immigrants detained at the U.S.-Mexico border without criminal convictions or pending charges who were transferred to ICE.
(Reuters) - Immigrant arrests in the United States nearly doubled in 2022 compared to 2021, as border authorities detained more people and courts blocked President Joe Biden's initiatives to more narrowly target detentions to focus on serious criminals.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) apprehended nearly 143.000 immigrants in fiscal year 2022, which ended September 30, almost double the number in 2021, according to data released Friday.
About two-thirds of those arrests were of people with only immigration violations, the data showed. Most were immigrants detained at the U.S.-Mexico border without criminal convictions or pending charges who were transferred to ICE, officials said.
At the same time, ICE deported approximately 72.000 immigrants to more than 150 countries around the world and assisted Border Patrol agents in expelling many others from the U.S. under pandemic-era restrictions known as 'Title 42'.
Deportation, under a statute known as 'Title 8', is a more formal and lengthy process that can lead to long barriers to re-entry into the US compared to expulsions which can take only a few hours under 'Title 42', a policy that has been in effect since the beginning of the Covid pandemic in March 2020.
U.S. Border Patrol agents apprehended a record 2,2 million immigrants at the southwest border in fiscal year 2022. Nearly half of those apprehended were quickly removed under the 'Title 42' policy.
Those who are not deported are released in the country to pursue their immigration claims or detained by ICE.
After Biden, a Democrat, took office as President of the country in January 2021, his administration issued ICE guidelines to prioritize the arrest of more serious offenders and lessen the emphasis on enforcing measures against non-criminals, in contrast to the hardline immigration stance of former President Donald Trump, a Republican.
But Republican states challenged those guidelines, and court rulings in favor of Texas and Louisiana halted them. In November, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments on the case, and a decision is expected by the end of June.