Current Immigration Statistics - Aliens Turned Away From Theunited States

Customs and Border Protection inspectors determine the admissibility of aliens who arrive at any of the approximately 300 U.S. ports of entry. Aliens who arrive without required documents, present improper or fraudulent documents, or who are on criminal wanted lists are deemed inadmissible. New rules that became effective in 1997 under the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA) provide two options to the inadmissible alien—voluntary departure or removal proceedings. Most removal proceedings involve a hearing before an immigration judge, which could result in removal or adjustment to a legal status such as granting asylum. Removal proceedings can also involve fines or imprisonment. IIRIRA empowers immigration officers to order an alien removed without a hearing or review through a process called expedited removal. This process applies to cases in which the officers determine that the alien is inadmissible because the alien engaged in fraud or misrepresentation or lacked proper documents.

The 2003 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics (Washington, DC: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Department of Homeland Security, September 2004) reported that in FY 2003 inspectors determined that about 497,000 arriving aliens were inadmissible. Of these, about 181,000 were subject to expedited removal. However, 128,000 of these aliens were allowed to withdraw their applications for admission and leave the country. The remaining 53,000 were placed in expedited removal. Approximately 6,000 of these aliens reported a fear of returning to their country of origin and were referred to an asylum officer. About 90% of those were found to have credible fears of persecution and were scheduled for hearings with an immigration judge. The remaining 43,248 aliens were removed under the expedited removal process. Expedited removals accounted for 23% of the total 186,151 alien removals in FY 2003. (See Table 3.13.)

While aliens with formal removals came from 178 countries, the 2003 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics reported that just nine countries accounted for almost 92% of all formal removals. With 137,819 aliens removed, Mexico alone accounted for the majority (74%) of the 186,151 alien removals in FY 2003. (See Table 3.14.) Beginning in 2002 Brazil displaced Canada from the top nine countries with the most aliens removed.

The removal of criminal aliens increased dramatically after the 1986 passage of the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA). In 1986 the INS reported 1,978 aliens removed for criminal violations; in 2003 there

TABLE 3.13
Formal removals, 1994–2003
SOURCE: "Formal Removal (Tables 40–46)," in 2003 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Office of Immigration Statistics, September 2004, http://uscis.gov/graphics/shared/aboutus/statistics/ENF03yrbk/2003ENFtext.pdf (accessed January 27, 2005)

Fiscal year	Total removals	Expedited removals
2003	186,151	43,248
2002	150,084	34,500
2001	177,739	69,827
2000	185,987	85,921
1999	180,902	89,160
1998	173,146	76,078
1997	114,432	23,242
1996	69,680	X
1995	50,924	X
1994	45,674	X
X Not applicable.

TABLE 3.14
Removals, by country and types of crimes resulting in criminals removed, FY 2003
SOURCE: "Country of Nationality (Table 43) and Criminal Activity (Table 43)," in 2003 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Office of Immigration Statistics, September 2004, http://uscis.gov/graphics/shared/aboutus/statistics/ENF03yrbk/2003ENFtext.pdf (accessed January 27, 2005)

Country	Number removed	Number of criminals
Mexico	137,819	62,518
Honduras	7,700	1,862
Guatemala	6,674	1,483
El Salvador	4,933	1,982
Brazil	3,797	210
Dominican Republic	3,284	2,139
Colombia	2,081	1,319
Jamaica 1,999		1,480
Haiti	1,032	516
Crime	Number removed	Percent of total Crime
Dangerous drugs	31,352	39
Immigration	11,413	14
Assault	8,336	11
Burglary	3,206	4
Robbery	2,806	4
Larceny	2,494	3
Sexual assault	2,191	3
Family offenses	2,238	3
Sex offenses	1,609	2
Stolen vehicles	1,525	2

were 79,395 criminals removed. Table 3.14 identifies the ten most common categories of crime resulting in removals in FY 2003. Transporting or dealing in dangerous drugs accounted for more than a third (39%) of crimes for which aliens were removed.

Aliens with Communicable Diseases

Aliens with "communicable diseases of public health significance" are not permitted to enter the United States. In 1990 the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, as part of the Immigration Act of 1990, declared that tuberculosis and AIDS were a public health threat. In 1993 Congress added HIV (human immunodeficiency virus), the virus that causes AIDS, to the list of grounds for exclusion (denial of an alien's entry into the United States). It was not, however, a legal ground for deportation of immigrants who were already in the country. Illegal aliens bypassed any screening or treatment for communicable diseases.

TUBERCULOSIS.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reported 2004 data on U.S. tuberculosis (TB) cases in a March 17, 2005, press release ("Tuberculosis in the United States, 2004," Atlanta, GA: Office of Communication, The Centers for Disease Control, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services). National surveillance showed a significant decline in the case rate of TB. In 2004 a total of 14,511 TB cases were reported in the country, marking the lowest overall TB case rate (4.9 per 100,000 persons) recorded since reporting began in 1953. However, the decline in the case rate from 2003 to 2004 was one of the smallest in more than a decade (3.3% compared with an average of 6.8% per year).

The TB rate among foreign-born individuals (22.5/ 100,000) was nearly nine times the rate among persons born in the United States (2.6/100,000). Individuals born outside the United States accounted for more than half (7,701 cases, or 53.7%) of all new TB cases in 2004. Of Asians in the United States reported to have TB in 2004, 95% were foreign-born. Among Hispanics in the United States, foreign-born individuals also accounted for the majority (74%) of TB cases.

During the ten-year period from 1993 to 2003, the number of TB cases among those born in the United States dropped from about 17,500 in 1993 to about 7,500 in 2003. The number of TB cases among foreign-born persons showed no decrease during that period. In fact by 2002 there were more cases of TB among the foreign-born than among U.S.-born persons. (See Figure 3.11.) During the same period the incidence of TB cases among the foreign-born spread across the country. In 1993 only the states along the Pacific coast and Hawaii had greater than a 50% incidence rate of TB cases among foreign-born residents. Ten years later nearly half of the states (22) reported 50% or more of TB cases among foreign-born residents. (See Figure 3.12.)

According to the CDC press release, seven states bore more than half the total burden of TB disease by 2004: California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, and Texas accounted for 59.9% of the national case total. The toll continued to be greatest among minority and foreign-born individuals, who consistently had higher rates of TB. The CDC reported its FIGURE 3.11
Number of TB cases among U.S.-born and foreign-born persons, 1993–2003
SOURCE: "Number of TB Cases in U.S.-Born vs. Foreign-Born Persons, United States, 1993–2003," Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2005, http://www.cdc.gov/nchstp/tb/pubs/slidesets/surv/surv2003/images/Large/Slide11.gif (accessed February 2, 2005) efforts to strengthen global partnerships to combat TB. These efforts included improving overseas screening for immigrants and refugees, and testing recent arrivals from countries with a high-incidence rate of TB infection. CDC was also improving the system that alerted local health departments about the arrival of immigrants who were known or believed to have TB, and collaborating with public health teams in Mexico to improve TB control among those who frequently crossed the U.S.–Mexico border.

HIV.

In late 1991, a large number of Haitians fled their country following the military takeover of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's democratic government. The U.S. Navy and Coast Guard intercepted more than 8,000 Haitian refugees at sea. In 1992 and 1993 another 34,000 refugees were intercepted. Many were returned to Haiti. Some were detained at the U.S. naval base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. In 1993 HIV-infected Haitian refugees being detained at Guantánamo Bay held a hunger strike to protest being denied entry to the United States after they were approved for asylum proceedings. On June 8, 1993, a federal judge in New York ordered the U.S. government to release 158 HIV-positive Haitians who had been detained for up to twenty months and permit them to enter the United States.