Fewer people in Colorado and Wyoming were deported for living illegally in the United States during the 2019 fiscal year than in the previous fiscal year, according to statistics released Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials removed 3,125 people from the two states, compared to 3,253 people removed in the 2018 fiscal year, according to the statistics. The fiscal year runs from Jan. 1 to Sept. 30.
The slightly lower numbers are still higher than removals in 2017 and 2016, when 2,746 and 1,033 people were removed from Colorado and Wyoming by ICE.
ICE arrests were also down during the 2019 fiscal year, with 2,408 compared to 2,755 in the 2018 fiscal year.
ICE blamed local sanctuary laws and the diversion of resources to the U.S./Mexico border as reasons for the lower regional numbers.
“Limiting cooperation between federal and local law enforcement agencies, as the recently enacted sanctuary law does, makes it more challenging for ICE to carry out its mission of detaining and removing criminal aliens from the U.S.,” said John. P. Martinez, acting field office director in Denver. “Politicians have put protection of criminal aliens above citizens’ safety, but my officers remain committed to identifying and removing those aliens who have flouted our nations’ laws and perpetuate crimes against citizens.”
A 2018 Colorado law restricted police officers in the state from complying with ICE detainers — requests made by ICE to hold suspected illegal immigrants beyond their scheduled release date from jail.
Nationally, removals were up — 267,258 during the 2019 fiscal year compared to 256,085 in the 2018 fiscal year — and arrests were down, according to an ICE news release. ICE arrested about 143,000 people in the 2019 fiscal year, compared to 158,581 arrests in the 2018 fiscal year.
