81 illegal Bangladeshis removed from US in '98

WASHINGTON, Jan 16: There were 373 Pakistanis and 351 Indians among 171,154 illegal aliens removed by the US Immigration and Naturalisation Service (INS) in 1998. The number of removals last year broke the 1997 record of 114,386.

According to INS spokeswoman Barbara Francis, among the top 20 countries led by Mexico, which accounted for 81 per cent of the removals, Pakistan was 16th on the list and India 18th. She told IANS that the breakup for the rest of South Asia in terms of removals was 81 Bangladeshis, 44 Sri Lankans and eight Nepalis. She acknowledged that the number of criminal removals among the South Asians were a fraction of the total removals and that the vast majority who were deported were illegal aliens.

The INS said the FY 1998 results were 39 per cent above the target of 123,000 removals and 50 per cent higher than last fiscal year's record performance. The agency said this marks the fifth consecutive year of record-setting removals.

INS Commissioner Doris Meissner said in a statement that "removals play a crucial role in our effort to restore credibility of our nation's immigration laws." "I'm pleased with the progress we've made in removals, but in the interior and at our borders we have much more to do," Meissner said. The INS said criminal alien removals reached 56,011, nine per cent over FY 1997's total of 51,272. It said an average of 1,077 criminal aliens were removed each week last year.

Drug conviction (47 per cent), criminal violations of immigration law (15 per cent), convictions for burglary (five per cent), assault (five per cent) and sex crimes (four per cent) accounted for most of the criminal alien removals, the agency noted. It acknowledged that much of the FY 1998 increase was driven by non-criminal removals which reached 115,143, an increase of 82 per cent over the 1997 figure of 63,114.

The INS said the surge in non-criminal removals came primarily from expedited removals, which accounted for 76,113 of the non-criminal removals. It said most of the expedited removals occurred at the southwest border land ports of entry, with San Diego, California (40,894), El Paso, Texas (11,129), and San Antonio (6,778) accounting for the top three expedited removal sites.

While Mexico earned the dubious distinction of being the top nation in terms of removals, nationals of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras each represented three per cent of total removals. The INS said the figures do not include an additional 78,928 aliens in INS custody that were allowed to voluntarily leave the US after being charged with a violation of immigration law. The removal figures also did not include approximately 1.5 million apprehensions and voluntary returns at US borders last year, it added.

- India Abroad News Service