The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency deported more than 185,000 illegal aliens in Fiscal Year 2020 including more than 4,200 gang members, despite operational disruption caused by the Chinese coronavirus crisis.
Between October 1, 2019 and September 30, 2020, ICE agents deported 185,884 illegal aliens from the United States. About 64 percent of those deported, 118,949 illegal aliens, had criminal convictions or pending criminal charges against them. Nearly 14,500 illegal aliens deported were family units while a little more than 4,000 were Unaccompanied Alien Children (UACs).
The overwhelming majority, 92 percent, of illegal aliens deported from the interior of the U.S. had criminal convictions or pending criminal charges against them at the time of their deportation.
As suspected due to the coronavirus, deportations this year dropped by more than 30 percent compared to Fiscal Year 2019 deportations and more than 27 percent compared to Fiscal Year 2018 deportations.
Of the illegal aliens deported this year, 4,276 were known or suspected gang members and 31 were known or suspected terrorists. This year, ICE’s air travel deportation operation coordinated a record 76 charters to high-risk countries including Jordan, Albania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Romania, Mongolia.
There was a 160 percent increase in total deportations via ICE’s high-risk air travel deportations compared to last year. Likewise, ICE agents deported more than 350 high-profile illegal aliens including Bosnian national Saudin Agani, convicted of aiding a terrorist organization.
Agani is a relative of Bosnian illegal alien Dzenan Camovic, who was indicted this year for ambushing two New York City Police Department (NYPD) officers in June while shouting the phrase “Allahu Akbar.” Justice Department officials have said that Camovic is a supporter of the Islamic State (ISIS).
As President Trump has surged immigration enforcement, President-Elect Joe Biden has promised to halt deportations of illegal aliens — including convicted criminals — and wind down various interior enforcement measures.
Deportations for illegal aliens is a huge cost-savings for American taxpayers, research has found. The taxpayer cost of the roughly 11 million to 22 million illegal aliens living across the U.S. totals nearly $750 billion over the course of a lifetime while each deportation costs just $10,900. This indicates that taxpayers would save about $622 billion over a lifetime if every illegal alien was deported.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.
