Record Deportations Disproportionately Penalize Latinos

The White House announced Tuesday that it had deported a record 396,906 people in fiscal year 2011, largely as a result of the Secure Communities program. The three-year-old program, introduced under former President George W. Bush, is a central tenet of Obama’s immigration policy. However, recent reports are highly critical of Secure Communities, claiming that it disproportionately penalizes Latinos. This comes as the Obama administration is engaged in a number of high-profile civil rights cases against states that have recently passed their own immigration legislation, citing claims of possible racial profiling. Obama’s approval ratings among Hispanics continue to fall and the issue of immigration is seen as crucial to help catch the Latino vote in the 2012 presidential elections.

The Secure Communities Program, introduced under Bush in 2008 and revamped by Obama, seeks to “prioritize the removal of criminal aliens, those who pose a threat to public safety, and repeat immigration violators.” This year’s record number of deportations is only 4,000 more people than last year’s also high of 392,000, and under the Obama administration the program is responsible for the deportation of close to 1 million people. However, a report released Wednesday by the University of California, Berkeley Law School is highly critical of the program. In addition to inconsistencies such as the deportation of American citizens, and lack of due process for the accused, it finds the law disproportionately targets Latinos, who make up 77 percent of the undocumented population, yet comprise 93 percent of the deported. While the program is intended to deport those with a criminal record, the Berkeley report finds that only 55 percent had criminal records, with the rest being apprehended shortly after crossing the border. The report also finds that 39 percent of those deported leave behind a spouse or child who is a U.S. citizen, which is likely to have significant repercussions for the Latino community. The program has received harsh criticism from immigrant advocate groups such as Roberto Lovato of Presente.org, who states: “President Obama is leading, continuing, and expanding a Bush-era program that racially profiles immigrants, especially Latinos, by the millions.” 

This announcement comes as the Obama administration is engaged in a number of high-profile civil rights lawsuits against Arizona, Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, and Utah, which have enacted immigration legislation. These laws, based on Arizona’s SB 1070, which passed in 2010, allow law enforcement officials to question a person’s immigration status if they believe they may be undocumented. Beyond the administration’s claims that such laws usurp federal authority to mandate immigration policy, the government and civil rights organizations fear they may promote racial profiling.

This will all no doubt have an effect on the Latino vote next year, which many analysts believe could be up for grabs. While Latinos supported Obama by a two-to-one margin in 2008, Obama’s approval rating among the group is now disproportionately low when compared with other minority groups. While high unemployment rates among Latinos may be a factor, many also point to Obama’s relative lack of action on immigration reform. With a majority of U.S. Latinos saying they know an undocumented immigrant, according to a Latino Decisions poll, this issue is extremely close to the U.S. Hispanic community. 

Learn More:

• AS/COA working paper: The Economic Impact of Immigrant-Related Local Ordinances
• AS/COA News Analysis: "Secure Communities Decision Irks Immigration Reform Advocates"
• Secure Communities: Get the Facts
• PBS’s FRONTLINE report “Lost in Detention” on the Obama administration’s immigration policy.
• HuffingtonPost piece by Stewart J. Lawrence on how these deportations will affect the Latino Vote.