ICE statement in response to March 27 Washington Post article

"ICE is required by Congress to submit annual performance goals as part of the budgetary process and our longstanding focus remains on smart, effective immigration enforcement that places priority first on those dangerous criminal aliens who present risk to the security of our communities.

This focus has yielded real results – between FY2008 and FY2009, criminal deportations increased by 19% and this priority continues in FY10 with 40% more criminal aliens removed to date as compared to the same period last year.

Significant portions of the memo cited in The Washington Post (3/27/10 - Becker/Hsu) did not reflect our policies, was sent without my authorization, and has since been withdrawn and corrected.

We are strongly committed to carrying out our priorities to remove serious criminal offenders first and we definitively do not set quotas."

- Assistant Secretary John Morton

Additional facts:

• Criminal removals/ returns increased by almost 22K between FY2008 and FY2009.
• Overall, criminal and non-criminal removals/ returns increased by 5% between FY2008 and FY2009, while criminal removals/returns alone increased by 19%.