Immigration Reform News 2014: More Latino Immigrants Deported Than Any Other Ethnicity, Study Finds
A new report claims that Latino immigrants are disproportionately affected by deportations.
Hector Sanchez, the chair of the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda that co-authored the report with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund and the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, faults President Obama for the high level of deportations.
"This President's obsession with deportations is really having a negative impact in our communities. It's devastating communities all over the nation with high concentrations of Latinos," Sanchez said last week when the report was issued.
According to federal statistics, 97 percent of all immigrants deported by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in 2013 were from Mexico, Central or South America. However, 75 percent of all undocumented immigrants are Latino, proving that Latinos are being deported at an usually high rate, The New York Daily News reported.
The total number of immigrants deported is expected to reach 2 million later this year. According to the report, when that occurs, the number of deported Latinos will equal the populations of North Dakota, Vermont and Wyoming combined.
"That's not only because a lot of undocumented immigrants are Latino. It's also the result of a lot of policies that target Latinos by racial profiling at the local, state and federal level," said Jose Magaña-Salgado, an attorney with the Mexican American defense fund.
According to the report, federal agencies scrutinize Latinos near the border, as well as investigate businesses that employ a large number of Latinos by auditing employment forms. The report claims that the ICE deports "recent border-crossers," which includes any immigrant who has crossed into the U.S. within the last three years.
Border Patrol agents are allowed to stop anyone near the border based on race or ethnicity, as long as that isn't the sole reason for the check.
Immigration reform activists believe that states with such rules are most likely applying the laws in a racially skewed manner.
"When you have all of these factors taken together, it exponentially expands the number of Latinos targeted, arrested and deported," said Magaña-Salgado.
According to Pew Research Center figures, nearly one-quarter of all Latinos know someone who has been deported.
The top nine countries with the highest number of immigrants who were deported from the United States are all Latin American countries, with Mexico at No. 1.
And while the majority of those deported are Latino, the top 10 countries of origin of undocumented immigrants in the U.S. include China, the Philippines, India, Vietnam and Korea.