Figures obtained by NBC News show deportations by ICE in March below where they were a year ago and far below what the administration wants.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported just over 12,300 immigrants from March 1 to March 28, slightly under the 12,700 people it deported during the same period last year, according to ICE data obtained by NBC News. ICE deported around 11,000 people in February.
The funding bill that recently passed Congress increased ICE’s annual budget only by a little more than 5%, from $9 billion to $9.5 billion.
“There’s an acknowledgment they can’t get the numbers up if they have to find, arrest, detain and fly all of these people home. So they have to push for self-deportation,” said one of the sources familiar with the discussions.
Why is it so hard for Trump to carry out his immigration policy that was promised? He barely even started to build the Wall last time either...