Harris and Montgomery counties among top places with the most ordered deportations, report shows

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- A new report by a research organization at Syracuse University, Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), shows about half a million immigrants were deported by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement or Border Patrol agents in the last six months.

Harris County is one of the top counties in the United States with the most removals.

During the first half of this fiscal year, judges ordered over 136,000 immigrants to be deported compared to the last administration for fiscal year 2019. The pace of new removals today is 50% greater.

Here are the top cities as highlighted in the report:

1. New York City, New York

2. Harris County, Texas

3. Los Angeles County, California

4. Dallas County, Texas

5. Miami-Dade County, Florida

6. Montgomery County, Texas

7. San Bernardino County, California

8. Travis County, Texas

9. Orange County, California

10. Cook County, Illinois

RELATED: Migrant apprehensions are down at Texas border. Have state policies had impact?

New York City reportedly had just under 11,000 deportations, Harris County had more than 8,000 removal orders, and Montgomery County had just under 2,000 deported immigrants.

Cesar Espinosa with FIEL organization said this data proves we need immigration reform. Still, many of the removals have been living here for a long time and have families who are American citizens.

"And the sad part is that a lot of these are just working people who could land in jail because of an accident or lack of ID. We also want to caution folks that not all of these 8,000 folks are hardened criminals that are being apprehended," Espinosa said.

TRAC's report also mentions that immigrants are finding it very difficult to find attorneys to contest removals. It said representation rates plummeted as removal hearings climbed.

Immigration lawyer Kim Bruno said not only is the system overwhelmed, but she also explained her personal experience.

"The problem is one: they don't know they need to seek representation. Two: they may not have money or think because they don't have money, they can't seek representation," she said.

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