U.S. Department of Justice
IMMIGRATION AND NATURALIZATION SERVICE
Washington, DC 20536
(202) 514-2648 Fax: (202) 514-1776

NEWS RELEASE

Contact: Media Services
Office of Public Affairs
Internet: www.ins.usdoj.gov

August 9, 1999

FY 1999 Removals Continue at Record Pace;
Criminal Alien Removals Up 14 Percent

WASHINGTON – The removal of criminal and other illegal aliens by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) continues at a record pace, with third quarter Fiscal Year (FY) 1999 preliminary figures reaching 133,522 total removals. Total removals for the first nine months of this fiscal year are 5 percent above the same period in FY 1998.

Criminal alien removals for the quarter were 15,885. Criminal alien removals thus far in FY 1999 total 47,083, a 14-percent increase over the same period last year. About 47 percent of the criminal alien removals were the result of convictions involving illegal drugs. Another 13 percent were for criminal violations of immigration law.

The increase in criminal alien removals was due, at least in part, to a significant gain in removals through the Institutional Removal Program (IRP). Removals through that program, which identifies and obtains removal orders on aliens serving criminal sentences in federal and state facilities, was up about 33 percent over last year, reaching 15,026 through June.

Non-criminal removals reached 28,992 for the quarter and 86,439 for the year-to-date, up 1 percent from the same period last year. Increased removals from the expedited removal process were offset by a decline in the removal of Central Americans to countries hit hard by Hurricane Mitch.

Congress established the expedited removal process in 1996 to remove certain inadmissible aliens from the United States. Under the new law, an INS inspector can remove these individuals, with built-in safeguards, in a period of days or weeks, streamlining the old exclusion process, which took months or even years. Expedited removal procedures are currently used only at land and air ports of entry.

In addition to the final order removals, INS has removed 54,092 aliens without formal proceedings thus far in FY 1999. This “Other Removals” category includes several methods of removal, but most are aliens who elect to waive their right to a hearing before an immigration judge and voluntarily return.

INS