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Ice on Immigration: Explaining
detention and deportation
By L. Patricia Ice, Featured
Columnist
Question: What is immigration detention and
deportation?
Answer:
Immigration detention is the lock-up of non-U.S. citizens in a federal
immigration detention center, jail or a private corporate-owned and run
prison where they remain until a determination is made whether or not
these non-citizens should be removed from the U.S. The U.S. government
detains more than 230,000 immigrants, including children, each year.
Deportation, or removal, which is the official name, is the forced
return (at U.S. government expense) and exile to one's country of
origin. Since 1996, the U.S. has removed more than 1.5 million people.
Anyone who is not a U.S. citizen can be removed
from the country. Those most at risk for deportation are undocumented
immigrants and those with certain criminal convictions. |
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