U.S. to step up deportation of jailed immigrants

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in an undated image courtesy of the agency. The United States expects to deport more than 200,000 immigrants this year who are serving time in prisons and jails across the country, the top U.S. immigration enforcement official said.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States expects to deport more than 200,000 immigrants this year who are serving time in prisons and jails across the country, the top U.S. immigration enforcement official said.

The move to speed the deportation of foreign-born criminals aims to help federal and state prisons reduce the costs of housing immigrants, Julie Myers, head of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, told The New York Times.

Illegal immigration has emerged as one of the most passionate in the campaign for the 2008 U.S. presidential election.

In 2007, ICE brought formal immigration charges against 164,000 immigrants who are behind bars nationwide, the Times reported on Tuesday.

Many of those immigrants are slated for deportation this year, she told the newspaper.

The Times said in 2006, the agency identified 64,000 immigrants behind bars, most of whom were deported.

Myers said in the past year, federal agents have stepped up efforts to find immigrants behind bars and complete immigration proceedings so they could be deported directly from prison without being released into the streets, Myers said.

Foreigners behind bars include large numbers of immigrants who were legal residents, but lost their legal status as a result of being convicted of crimes, Myers told the Times.

In 2007, ICE sent 276,912 immigrants to their home countries, including many who had never been arrested for crimes, but were deported for civil immigration violations, The New York Times reported.

The newspaper said Myers also confirmed that ICE adopted a new policy last week requiring a court order for medical staff members to give sedation drugs to immigrants being deported.

(Writing by Joanne Allen, editing by Doina Chiacu)