The Department of Justice’s Executive Office of Immigration Review published data on orders of removal, voluntary departures, and final decisions for the first six months of the Trump Administration. Deportation orders are up 27.8% from last year.
The Department of Justice reports:
The data released for Feb. 1, 2017 – July 31, 2017 is as follows:
Total Orders of Removal [1]: 49,983
Up 27.8 percent over the same time period in 2016 (39,113)Total Orders of Removal and Voluntary Departures [2]: 57,069
Up 30.9 percent over the same time period in 2016 (43,595)Total Final Decisions [3]: 73,127
Up 14.5 percent over the same time period in 2016 (63,850)Pursuant to President Trump’s Jan. 25 Executive Order, “Border Security and Immigration Enforcement Improvements,” the Department of Justice mobilized over one hundred existing Immigration Judges to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) detention facilities across the country. Over 90 percent of these cases have resulted in orders requiring aliens to depart or be removed from the United States. The Justice Department has also hired 54 additional Immigration Judges since President Trump took office, and continues to hire new Immigration Judges each month.
In addition to carrying out the President’s Executive Order, the Justice Department is also reviewing internal practices, procedures, and technology in order to identify ways in which it can further enhance Immigration Judges’ productivity without compromising due process.
[1] An “order of removal” by an Immigration Judge results in the removal of an illegal alien from the United States by the Department of Homeland Security.
[2] Under an order of “voluntary departure”, an illegal alien agrees to voluntarily depart the United States by a certain date. If the illegal alien does not depart, the order automatically converts to an order of removal.
[3] A “final decision” is one that ends the proceeding at the Immigration Judge level such that the case is no longer pending.
Yesterday AG Sessions issued such warning to Chicago and its Mayor, Rahm Emanuel, decided to sue the Department of Justice, rather than crackdown on illegal immigration.
Chicago Tribune reports:
Mayor Rahm Emanuel‘s Law Department on Monday filed its much-touted lawsuit against President Donald Trump‘s Justice Department over its effort to withhold some grant funding from so-called sanctuary cities.
Emanuel wants a federal judge to block the Trump administration from enforcing its new policy, which would affect not just Chicago, but other major U.S. cities like New York and San Francisco. U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ funding decision also would affect Cook County, which also holds sanctuary status and operates the largest single-site jail in the country.
The Justice Department quickly fired back in an emailed response that notes last year more people were killed in Chicago than New York and Los Angeles combined. “It’s especially tragic that the mayor is less concerned with that staggering figure than he is spending time and taxpayer money protecting criminal aliens and putting Chicago’s law enforcement at greater risk,” the response stated.
Trump has long maintained that illegal immigration fuels crime, an assertion that critics say is not backed by statistics that show immigrants in the country without the required permission are less likely to commit crimes than U.S. citizens and legal residents. And Emanuel in a rare Sunday news conference maintained Trump’s policy would damage efforts to tamp down crime, because people in the city without documentation would then be afraid to cooperate with police.
Unfazed by the lawsuit, Sessions fired back at Emanuel, warning “comply with the law or forego taxpayer dollars.”
“Attorney General Jeff Sessions today issued the following statement on the city of Chicago’s lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Justice for withholding federal funds due to sanctuary city status,” according to 911 Breaking News.
“No amount of federal taxpayer dollars will help a city that refuses to help its own residents.
“This administration is committed to the rule of law and to enforcing the laws established by Congress. To a degree perhaps unsurpassed by any other jurisdiction, the political leadership of Chicago has chosen deliberately and intentionally to adopt a policy that obstructs this country’s lawful immigration system. They have demonstrated an open hostility to enforcing laws designed to protect law enforcement — Federal, state, and local — and reduce crime, and instead have adopted an official policy of protecting criminal aliens who prey on their own residents. This is astounding given the unprecedented violent crime surge in Chicago, with the number of murders in 2016 surpassing both New York and Los Angeles combined. The city’s leaders cannot follow some laws and ignore others and reasonably expect this horrific situation to improve.
“The Mayor complains that the federal government’s focus on enforcing the law would require a ‘reordering of law enforcement practice in Chicago.’ But that’s just what Chicago needs: a recommitment to the rule of law and to policies that rollback the culture of lawlessness that has beset the city.
“This administration will not simply give away grant dollars to city governments that proudly violate the rule of law and protect criminal aliens at the expense of public safety. So it’s this simple: Comply with the law or forego taxpayer dollars.”
