Formal Deportation Is Much Less Common Than Expulsion

Deportation is the enforcement activity most closely associated with the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service.

But deportation--usually after a final order by an immigration judge--is far from the most frequently used method.

The vast majority of people expelled by the INS do not go through formal proceedings. Most never have their day in court. There simply wouldn’t be enough agents, immigration judges or detention spaces.

During the 1996 fiscal year, the INS recorded a near-record 1.6 million arrests of suspected illegal immigrants, the great bulk of them from Mexico. That huge volume makes the INS the nation’s most prolific arresting agency.

Of those, however, only 68,657 were formally deported. Officials say that about an equal number of illegal immigrants were expelled from the United States interior after agreeing to leave without formal orders of deportation.

But the vast majority of expulsions--more than 1.5 million--involved illegal immigrants arrested by Border Patrol agents in the U.S.-Mexico border area and quickly returned to Mexico. All were considered “voluntary returns”--that is, those who left signed forms agreeing to be sent home without hearings. Once back, many just turned around in Tijuana or other points and attempted to cross again--the oft-lamented “revolving door” that has long characterized the Southwest border.

Since April 1, thousands of foreign nationals arriving at airports, land border and other ports of entry without proper documents have faced a new barrier: “expedited removal.” Unless they present a “credible fear” of persecution in their homeland, they have virtually no right to argue their case before a judge. Many have been sent back home on the next plane.