Immigration activists have sharply criticized President Obama for a rising volume of deportations, labeling him the "deporter in chief" and staging large protests that have harmed his standing with some Latinos, a key group of voters for Democrats.

But the portrait of a steadily increasing number of deportations rests on statistics that conceal almost as much as they disclose. A closer examination shows that immigrants living illegally in most of the continental U.S. are less likely to be deported today than before Obama came to office, according to immigration data.

To the Editor:



“No Exit From a Bad Program” (editorial, Feb. 28) claims that the Secure Communities program is problematic because it results in the arrest and deportation of illegal immigrants with little or no criminal record. Such a view is misguided and dangerous.



Secure Communities is the Department of Homeland Security’s comprehensive strategy to improve the identification and removal of criminal aliens from the United States.



While not perfect, this sensible program allows for an automated immigration-history check to be run at the same time as the routine criminal-history check done on every person booked into a local jail. It flags criminals who are foreign nationals and sends a notification to D.H.S., which can choose to remove the offender.



Secure Communities simply makes sense. Who wouldn’t want to remove an illegal immigrant who has been arrested by the police for a criminal offense? To make our streets safer, local law enforcement agencies should embrace the Secure Communities program. Opposition to this program is dangerous and foolish.



Sue Myrick

Member of Congress, 9th Dist., N.C.

Washington, Feb. 28, 2011