Biden administration carries out highest deportations in a decade

The Biden-Harris administration deported the highest number of immigrants in a single year since 2014, according to a new report from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The pace of removals in fiscal 2024 was higher than the Trump administration achieved in any given year and the highest since the Obama administration.

ICE removed 271,484 noncitizens in the 12-month period that ended Sept. 30, a 90% increase from 142,580 removals in fiscal 2023.

The Biden administration attributed the increased removals to "successful negotiations with foreign governments" in 2023, according to the report.

Those negotiations helped improve logistics, allowing the United States to increase deportation flights to countries in the Western Hemisphere, as well as to places, including China, that previously refused to accept their citizens.

A third of those removed had criminal histories, according to the report. More than 88,700 noncitizens were facing criminal charges or had convictions, including related to 2,699 homicides. The agency removed more than 3,700 suspected gang members, up 9% from the prior fiscal year.

Immigrants, including those in the U.S. unlawfully, are less likely to commit crimes than the general population, according to research by the libertarian Cato Institute.

More: As Trump plans mass deportation, Mexican views of migration harden

ICE removals dropped to a 25-year low in fiscal 2021, below 60,000, amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the ensuing two years, illegal migration at the U.S.-Mexico border surged to record highs while annual removals remained at historic lows as the administration struggled to contain pent-up demand and wrestled with demographics that weren't easily removable – among them, hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans, amid political destabilization in that country.

ICE deported noncitizens to 192 countries in fiscal 2024.

(This story has been updated with new information.)

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Immigrant removals surge in Biden's final year