New federal data indicates President Trump is deporting fewer illegal immigrants than former President Barack Obama did during his final months in office, conflicting with Democratic arguments that Trump is deporting people at a faster rate than Obama.
The number of criminal and noncriminal illegal immigrants deported by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from Oct. 1 through Dec. 31, 2017, was about 17 percent lower than the number the agency removed during the same period a year earlier.
According to ICE, 56,710 criminal and noncriminal people in the country illegally were deported over those three months, compared to 68,374 who were kicked out over the same period in 2016.
Statistics from the first quarter of fiscal year 2018 indicates 19,748 people were deported in October; 19,547 in November; and 17,415 in December.
About 50 to 60 percent of each month’s removals were previously convicted of criminal offenses. Trump deported fewer non-criminal aliens than Obama did during those months.
