Comment on Rising deportations still less than under Obama

WASHINGTON — Amid President Donald Trump’s push for tighter immigration policies, the United States deported more than 256,000 illegal immigrants in 2018 — an increase from the year before, but still lower than the peak of the Obama administration.U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Deputy Director Ronald Vitello announced last week that in the past federal fiscal year, which ended in September, ICE detained “a record number” of illegal immigrants and that the number of those deported has risen about 13 percent since 2017.In the Midwest region that includes Iowa and four other states, the increase in removals was higher than the national average — a 20 percent jump since 2017.The data shows that 145,262 of those who were deported nationwide were convicted criminals and that 22,796 had criminal charges pending against them.In addition, some 5,872 were reported as known or suspected gang members and 42 were believed to be terrorists, according to the report.The number of families and unaccompanied children who were deported also increased.