Deportations Surge, as "Landscapers" not Criminals are Targeted

While the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency says it targets criminals -- from violent gang members to fake document peddlers -- for deportation, more and more deportees are not criminals. Across the country, the percentage of criminal deportees fell to 38 percent last year from 48 percent in 2005, because federal agents are "chasing landscapers," as one immigrant advocate put it. The number of overall deportees is rising sharply – to 232,755 last year from 177,489 in 2005.

Boston Globe reports