The Obama administration deported a record 438,421 unauthorized immigrants in fiscal year 2013, continuing a streak of stepped up enforcement that has resulted in more than 2 million deportations since Obama took office, according to new government statistics. Pew Research Center said the record deportations occurred even as 581,000 unauthorized immigrants have received relief from deportation and work permits since 2012 under a policy called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.
Most of the growth in deportations has come in non-criminal cases. In 2013, 240,000 deported immigrants did not have a previous criminal conviction, up from 218,000 in 2012. The number of criminal deportations has stalled at about 200,000 for the past two fiscal years. The Texas Tribune said 315,000 of the 2013 deportees were Mexican nationals. Guatemala got 46,870 repatriated citizens, followed by Honduras with 36,500 and El Salvador with 20,860.