ICE deports record number of immigrants in fiscal year

MIAMI (AP) — John Morton, director, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, says his agency deported nearly 400,000 individuals during the fiscal year 2011 that just ended in September.

Morton announced in Washington today the number was the largest in the agency's history.

ICE said about 55 percent of those deported had felony or misdemeanor convictions. Officials said the number of individuals convicted of crimes was up 89 percent from 2008. But officials could not immediately say how many of those crimes were related to immigration violations.

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.