ICE Reducing Immigration Court Deportations by Deporting People on their Own

Syracuse's TRAC Immigration reports that in December 2012 there were 14,898 new Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) filings seeking deportation orders. This is a 25% reduction from the same three month period in FY 2012.  Fiscal Year 2013 began in October.  In December 2012 Immigration Courts issued 8,262 new deportation orders, which includes removal orders and grants of voluntary departure. 

TRAC states that we still do not know how many actual deportations there were because in a significant amount of cases ICE deported people on their own bypassing immigration courts altogether.  ICE does this by reinstating previous deportation orders, issuing expedited removal orders, and by forcing people to "voluntarily return" to their native country in lieu of deportation.  Last year nearly one-third of all deportations were issued without the indivdual ever appearing before an immigration judge.

So much for due prcoess.