Politics

The Cost of Deportation in 10 Eye-Opening Figures

By Rosa Ramirez and National Journal
About 4 million noncitizens have been deported since 199o. AP Photo/ LM Otero (National Journal)
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Immigration is expected to take center stage this year if President Obama gets his way, the National Journal reports. A new Migration Policy Institute report, "Immigration Enforcement in the United States: The Rise of a Formidable Machinery," raises some interesting facts on the state and costs of immigration enforcement.  

    $17.9 billion: The amount of federal dollars spent during fiscal 2012 on immigration enforcement.

    $14.4 billion: The total spending for the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, Secret Service, U.S. Marshals Service, and Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. That's 24 percent less than what's spent on immigration enforcement agencies.

    85 percent: The increase in the budget between 2005 and 2012 for Customs and Border Protection, the agency charged with preventing illegal entry of people and goods.

    430,000: The number of illegal immigrants who were in federal detention during the 2011 fiscal year.

    4 million: The number of noncitizens deported since 1990.

    21,370:  The number of Border Patrol agents in the 2012 fiscal year, about double the number from seven years ago.

    1 in 10: The ratio of the nation's 7 million employers (or more) who are enrolled in the electronic employment-verification system known as E-verify.

    19: The number of states that require some variation of E-verify.

    600: The number of immigration proceedings completed by a single immigration judge in 2009.

    305,556: The number of immigration backlogged cases as of March 2012.

    Source: Migration Policy Institute report "Immigration Enforcement in the United States: The Rise of a Formidable Machinery."