According to recent numbers released by the Department of Homeland Security, an unprecedented number of undocumented immigrants were detained and deported during the 2011 fiscal year.
The report released by the Department revealed that hundreds of thousands of immigrants are detained every year by immigration authorities -- a number far greater than previously reported. The ICE detained a record 429,000 immigrants without documentation in 2011 alone. Of those immigrants the ICE deported a record number: 396,906.
The Obama administration received positive press earlier this year when Obama signed an executive directive giving a two year temporary stay for up to 800,000 immigrants under the age of 30 who were brought to the U.S. before they were 16; however, the administration's otherwise aggressive approach to undocumented immigrant deportation and detentions continues to stir outrage among immigration activists in the US.