More And More Illegal Immigrants Arrested In Texas

TEXAS - A new report by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials shows the amount of illegal immigrants deported since 2002 has nearly tripled nationally. Statewide, it's the same story.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials say the numbers are up. ICE Director of Communications Carl Rusnok says, "The deportation numbers - the number of people we've returned to their countries of origin - the national numbers are up 20-percent."

Nationally, more than 349,000 people were removed by ICE in 2008. That's 60,000 more people than in 2007.

In our district, which includes Dallas, parts of Southern Oklahoma and East Texas, more than 16,000 people were returned to their native countries. That number increased by nearly 3,000 from the year before.

Rusnok says, "All of our operations are targeted. They're targeting individuals that we know to either be in the country illegally or are fugitives."

ICE officials tell us they credit the increase to efficiency, staff, and partnerships with local law enforcement.

State Representative Leo Berman was excited to hear about the increase, but says it's still a problem. Berman says, "It's going to be an ongoing problem until we have people with guts to do something about it."

He tells us he plans to introduce a handful of bills dealing specifically with illegal immigration in the next legislative session. One would penalize employers who knowingly hire illegal aliens, and that's not all; Berman says, "I've got a bill to make English the officials language of Texas."

The next session will take place in January.

Officials say there are an estimated 11 to 12 million people living and working in the U.S. illegally. 2 million of them are in Texas.