Obama Administration Spent $18,000 on Immigration Law Enforcement in 2012

A recent report from Washington suggests that the US spent more money through the Obama administration on immigration enforcement efforts in the previous financial year than all other federal law enforcement agencies combined.

A 182 page report from the non-partisan Migration Policy Institute highlights that in 2012 budget year terminating in September, the government spent around $18 million on immigration enforcement programs. Other federal law enforcement, including the FBI, spent a combined $14.4 billion.

These programs were run by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection, and co-author of the report, MPI Senior Fellow Doris Meissner said that “today, immigration enforcement can be seen as the federal government’s highest criminal law enforcement priority, judged on the basis of budget allocations, enforcement actions and case volumes.”

With the report concluding that the Obama administration made immigration its highest law enforcement priority last year, many who were adverse to President Obama’s policies and who criticised its lenience on immigration violators, are likely to balk.

There has been renewed interest in immigration reform following the November election, and Republican members of congress are showing signs of moving away from their previous hard policies on immigration, suggesting that the time may be right to discuss reform. President Obama, who won a record percentage of the Hispanic vote, has reinforced a previous pledge to make immigration reform a priority.