U.S. deports nearly 400K in a year - a record

An undocumented Guatemalan immigrant, chained for being charged as a criminal, prepares to board a deportation flight to Guatemala City, Guatemala, at Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport June 24, 2011, in Mesa, Ariz. / Getty Images

Updated at 2:32 p.m. ET

MIAMI - U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director John Morton said Tuesday his agency deported nearly 400,000 individuals during the fiscal year 2011 that just ended in September.

Morton announced the numbers in Washington, saying they were the largest in the agency's history.

ICE said about 55 percent of the 396,906 individuals deported had felony or misdemeanor convictions. Officials said the number of individuals convicted of crimes was up 89 percent from 2008.

Officials could not immediately say how many of those crimes related just to previous immigration violations. Individuals can be convicted of a felony just for returning to the U.S. or being found in the U.S. after the government orders them to leave.

Among those deported were more than 1,000 people convicted of homicide. Another 5,800 were sexual offenders, and about 80,000 people convicted of drug related crimes or driving under the influence.

Authorities say two-thirds of those deported either recently crossed the border or had done so repeatedly.

"This comes down to focusing our resources as best we can on our priorities," Morton said. "We continue to hope for comprehensive immigration reform at a national level, working with the Congress, but in the meantime, we work with the resources we have, under the laws we have."

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[starving1968-3]

Just one more thing that Obama is doing that the Bush administration failed at.

The list just keeps getting longer and longer.....

[Galactus9]

What about the over 10 million illegal aliens that are already in this country? The Federal Government has failed to do its job for over 25 years. Its time they start enforcing the law and deport all illegal aliens, secure the border and fine anyone who hires an illegal. That is the law.

[jfisher736]

Uh, deports to California don't count

[RedDeath50]

Put them on a chain gang for a year before deporting them. Then they may think twice before coming back illegally!

And as an added bonus, we could get a lot of road work done with the chain gang prisoners!

It's a win-win!

[xila654]

Its official, Obama is Bush 2.0, however he is much more dangerous because he pretends to care about the rule of law while dropping bombs on innocent civilian all over the world in the name of preventative defense , he has much more to be concerned about than just loosing the next election

I don't think he or his puppet masters realize what they have set themselves up for , but they'll realize it soon enough

[nuttyworld]

400K not nearly enough. They ALL need to be deported - anchor babies and all.

[slappy-mcjohnson]

One has to wonder what made good ole Ronald Reagan give amnesty to 4 million of them for.

Apparently, it was to bring over 13 million more of their friends and relatives.

I have no problem with immigrants. Illegal ones? Big problem.

[economystic]

400,000 still a smidgen compared to the 18,000,000 illegals here now.

[economystic]

Most cities have housing regulations that allow maximum occupancy. Look it up in yor cities' municipal code and turn them in. It will take more than once but be persistent, it will pay off.

[economystic]

We just need to continue to give them the incentive to leave. More drug busts, more employer busts, more deportations. And announce that they will all have 6 months to leave the country at which time they will be arrested and DNA profiled and put on work camps near the border in the desert areas of Texas, New Mexico and Arizona for two years then they can walk home to mexico. Also after the 6 month grace period we need to place a bounty on them. $10 a piece; $20 for any employer who hires them and any landlord who houses them. Those landlords and employers will be fined $1,000 per day for each illegal they house or employ.