Half of all federal arrests related to immigration

[Geee]

Washington Times:

Immigration arrests and border-related cases have swamped the federal government, the Justice Department said Thursday, pointing to new statistics that show half of all arrests made by federal authorities in 2014 were for immigration offenses.

The five judicial districts along the U.S.-Mexico border also accounted for nearly 40 percent of people given federal sentences that year, the statistics show.

And the Justice Department said repeat offenders were also more likely in those border districts than elsewhere in the country.

“These statistics make it clear that immigration-related offenses along the United States border with Mexico account for an enormous portion of the federal government’s law enforcement resources and that we must enforce our immigration laws in a way that consistently deters future violations,” said Sarah Isgur Flores, a spokeswoman for the attorney general.

Overall arrests actually dropped in 2014, as did immigration arrests, as the Obama administration continued to narrow the range of illegal immigrants it deemed targets for enforcement.