Deportations of undocumented immigrants have slowed down in the three months since President Donald Trump’s inauguration, despite his promise to increase the number of these. According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency data, 54,564 immigrants have been deported from the US since Trump became President on 20 January. This is a fall of 12 percent from the same period in 2016, under President Barack Obama.
The figures are also up to a third lower than was recorded in the early part of 2014, despite the Trump administration stepping up their attempts to find and arrest undocumented immigrants. The slowdown was not explained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and seems to continue a trend, post-2014, to be more lenient with non-violent undocumented immigrants, favored by Obama.
Data from the independent group, TRAC Immigration, suggests the reason for the fall may be that the sheer number of deportation cases is overwhelming immigration courts. Pending cases have increased to almost 540,000 since the close of 2015, a rise of almost 100,000. Most cases have a long wait for proceedings to even begin, and then tend to take an average of 600 days to reach a resolution.
Trump has vowed to expel many of the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in the US, despite many having jobs, homes, and families, and having been settled in the country for decades. Trump’s administration insists its focus is on criminal immigrants.