In spite of federal government assurances that criminal undocumented immigrants are being prioritized for deportation, a watchdog group reports that more than 85 percent of removal proceedings initiated in Colorado in the last fiscal year focused on those with only immigration violations.
Of 5,207 deportation cases filed in Colorado through September, 3,602 were against immigrants accused of “entry without inspection,” meaning they allegedly crossed the border into the United States illegally. An additional 827 were accused of other immigration charges, which can include not having a valid visa, falsely claiming citizenship or returning to the U.S. after previously being deported.
These numbers are the latest released by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a Syracuse University-based nonprofit that compiles data based on information obtained under Freedom of Information Act requests. Nancy Lofholm, The Denver Post
