A new Justice Department report has revealed that more than 90 percent of the 45,493 foreign-born prisoners currently incarcerated in federal prisons around the country are illegal aliens and that they account for 24 percent of all federal inmates, according to several news sources.
The Washington Examiner reported that only 3,939 of those foreign-born inmates are now U.S. citizens, and that the remaining 41,554 are still citizens of other countries. More than 50 percent of these prisoners “have final orders to be deported once they’ve completed their sentences,” LifeZette noted.
According to The Hill, there are 188,658 federal inmates, based on the Justice Department report. About 13,880 of the remaining foreign inmates are “under investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for possible removal,” the newspaper said.
More than 5,100 of the illegal aliens now behind federal bars are “still awaiting adjudication” and a handful have been “granted relief” because they risk persecution if they are deported, The Hill noted.
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When he was campaigning for the presidency, Donald Trump frequently talked about “building a wall” along the southern border to stem the flow of illegal aliens into the country. Since he took office, many illegals have been arrested, setting the stage for confrontations between the administration and various so-called “sanctuary cities.” A case was brought against Trump’s immigration policies by Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson and upheld by a federal court judge.
However, the Washington Times reported last month that illegal immigration has declined a whopping 67 percent since Trump’s inauguration. The president said March arrests of illegal aliens hit the lowest number in 17 years, a claim that Politifact judged to be true.
It is not clear why illegal border crossings appear to have plummeted, but one possible contributing factor may be the economy in the United States over the past several years. Still, Trump’s tough talk about securing the border also seems to have had a deterrent effect, along with the higher profile that arrests have been given in news reports.
There are some high-profile prisoners, especially the man now accused of killing Kate Steinle on a San Francisco pier in 2015. Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez allegedly confessed to the slaying.
The gun used in that crime had been stolen from a federal law enforcement officer, opening the door for criticism of California gun control laws that became irrelevant in this situation.
Sanchez had been previously convicted of crimes and deported several times, but he was still in the country in a “sanctuary city” and fired a stolen gun. He may remain in a federal prison for the rest of his life.
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