American authorities have expelled more than 270,000 people in one year, according to official estimates published Thursday, a few weeks before Donald Trump's return to power, the Republican threatening to send back millions of undocumented migrants.
This number of deportations — the last of the Joe Biden era — is the highest in the last decade, including during the first Trump presidency (2017-2021).
Most of the migrants forced to leave the United States had crossed the border with Mexico illegally, the agency responsible for border control and immigration (ICE) said in its report.
Around a third of them had been charged or convicted by the courts for criminal activity
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These estimates cover the period from the beginning of October 2023 to the end of September 2024, more or less around the time of the presidential campaign. Donald Trump then made the fight against illegal immigration his main focus.
The former real estate mogul has vowed to carry out the largest deportation operation in US history after returning to the White House on January 20, a threat that has sparked serious concern among Migrant defense NGO.
This promise, which relies on the unfounded claim that migrants commit more crimes than American citizens, has proven popular with the American electorate.
On the other hand, Mr. Trump has not specified how to implement such a policy and analyzes suggest that these operations would be costly and difficult to achieve with current staffing levels.
Every year, our teams face gigantic challenges, but every year, they overcome them
said ICE Deputy Director Patrick Lechleitner.
11 million undocumented immigrants in 2022
Illegal crossings at the American border jumped with the coming to power of Democrat Joe Biden in early 2021, but have decreased significantly this last year, after the administration tightened the asylum procedure.
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Migrants monitored by National Guard members wait for border agents to arrive in Eagle Pass, Texas, after crossing the Rio Grande to enter the United States in November 2022.
Photo : Associated Press / Dario Lopez-Mills
About 11 million people were undocumented in the United States in 2022, according to estimates from the Pew Research Center. Donald Trump and his allies believe there are actually many more of them.
Many of these illegal migrants work, often in low-skilled jobs, and pay taxes.
Critics of the future president say that the American economy would suffer from a mass expulsion of these undocumented workers. This would, for example, create labor shortages in agriculture or the construction world.
Economists estimate, for their part, that such shortages would push prices up, thus threatening candidate Trump's other flagship promise: reducing inflation.
