Federal immigration officials were so determined to meet their deportation goals last year, while publically touting their emphasis on apprehending criminals, that they resorted to low-hanging-fruit tactics, like pursuing traffic offenders who might be in the country illegally.

An investigation by USA Today found the government delved into state driver’s license records to locate foreign-born applicants, and sent Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to local traffic safety checkpoints in an effort to catch as many illegal aliens as possible before 2012 was up.

ICE also focused on processing more unauthorized immigrants arrested for low-level crimes to pad the agency’s numbers.

In response to the story, ICE spokeswoman Gillian Christensen said the agency “does not have quotas,” but does utilize “annual performance goals” to demonstrate to Congress how well they are doing.

Gregory Chen, director of advocacy for the American Immigration Lawyers Association, called ICE’s tactics “very problematic” for trying to boost “criminal alien numbers by pursuing people with minor offenses like traffic violations.”

-Noel Brinkerhoff

To Learn More:

Immigration Tactics Aimed At Boosting Deportations (by Brad Heath, USA Today)

U.S. Sets Deportation Record in 2012 (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)

Obama Administration Steps up Deportations in an Election Year…Again (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)

Immigration Officials Set Deportation Quotas, Shifting Focus from Dangerous Illegal Immigrants (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)

Anti-Illegal Immigrant Criminal Program Shifted Focus Away from Criminals (AllGov)