米、１年間で不法移民２７万人超を強制送還 過去１０年で最多

【ロサンゼルスＡＦＰ＝時事】米移民・関税執行局（ＩＣＥ）は１９日、昨年１０月１日から今年９月末までの１年間に不法移民２７万人以上を強制送還したとする年次報告書を公表した。（写真は資料写真）
　ジョー・バイデン政権下での最後の報告書。就任を数週間後に控えているドナルド・トランプ次期大統領は、不法移民数百万人を強制送還すると宣言している。
　２７万人は、第１次トランプ政権時代を含め過去１０年間で最多。
　強制送還された不法移民の大半は、南部国境から不法入国した人々だという。そのうち約３分の１は有罪判決を受けた犯罪者か、刑事告訴に直面している容疑者だという。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2024/12/20-18:21）

US immigration authorities removed over 270,000 people last financial year, figures showed Thursday, weeks before Donald Trump takes office threatening to deport millions of migrants.
The tally of removals is the final annual report under President Joe Biden, and is higher than at any time in the last decade -- including during Trump's first term as president.
The bulk of those forced to leave the United States had crossed the southern border illegally, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said in its report.
Around a third of them had criminal convictions, or were facing criminal charges.
Covering 12 months to the end of September, the period largely coincided with the presidential campaign in which Trump made clamping down on migration a key feature.
He pledged to launch the largest deportation operation in US history when he takes office on January 20.
The promise -- which focused heavily on the unsubstantiated claim that migrants commit more crimes than US citizens -- proved popular with voters.
Trump has offered few details on how the operation would be carried out, with analysis suggesting it would be costly and impractical with current staffing levels.
Every year, our workforce faces tremendous challenges -- but every year, they meet those challenges head-on, said ICE Deputy Director Patrick Lechleitner.
Illegal crossings surged after Biden took office, though declined sharply over the last year after his administration tightened rules on claiming asylum.
Estimates suggest between 11 and 15 million people live in the United States illegally.
Trump and his supporters insist the number is far higher.
Many of those in the country without authorization work and pay taxes, often performing difficult or dangerous jobs that citizens don't want to do.
Opponents of Trump's pledged crackdown say the economy could suffer if he tries to deport illegal migrants on the scale he has suggested and say it would create labor shortages in housing, agriculture and social care.
Economists say any such shortage would push prices up, and undermine one of Trump's key election promises to reduce inflation.