ERO Annual ReportFY 2013 ICE Immigration Removals

Overview

In addition to its criminal investigative responsibilities, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement 

(ICE) shares responsibility for enforcing the nation’s civil immigration laws with U.S. Customs and 

Border Protection (CBP) and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). ICE’s role in 

the immigration enforcement system is focused on two primary missions: (1) the identification and 

apprehension of criminal aliens and other removable individuals located in the United States; and 

(2) the detention and removal of those individuals apprehended in the interior of the U.S., as well 

as those apprehended by CBP officers and agents patrolling our nation’s borders.

In executing these responsibilities, ICE has prioritized its limited resources on the identification and 

removal of criminal aliens and those apprehended at the border while attempting to unlawfully enter 

the United States. This report provides an overview of ICE Fiscal Year (FY) 2013 civil immigration 

enforcement and removal operations: 

In FY 2013: • ICE conducted a total of 368,644 removals. • ICE conducted 133,551 removals of individuals apprehended in the interior of the U.S. o 82 percent of all interior removals had been previously convicted of a crime. • ICE conducted 235,093 removals of individuals apprehended along our borders while attempting 

to unlawfully enter the U.S.

1

• 59 percent of all ICE removals, a total of 216,810, had been previously convicted of a crime.

o ICE apprehended and removed 110,115 criminals removed from the interior of the U.S. 

 o ICE removed 106,695 criminals apprehended at the border while attempting to unlawfully 

 enter the U.S. 

• 98 percent of all ICE FY 2013 removals, a total of 360,313, met one or more of ICE’s stated 

civil immigration enforcement priorities.

2

• Of the 151,834 removals of individuals without a criminal conviction, 84 percent, or 128,398, 

were apprehended at the border while attempting to unlawfully enter the U.S. and 95 percent 

fell within one of ICE’s stated immigration enforcement priorities.

3

• The leading countries of origin for those removed were Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and El 

Salvador.

ICE Immigration Removals

1

 Approximately 95 percent these individuals were apprehended by U.S. Border Patrol agents and then processed, detained, and 

removed by ICE. The remaining individuals were apprehended by CBP officers at ports of entry. 

2 As defined in the March 2011 ICE Memorandum: Civil Immigration Enforcement: Priorities for the Apprehension, Detention, and 

Removal of Aliens. 3

 ICE defines criminality via a recorded criminal conviction obtained by ICE officers and agents from certified criminal history 

repositories. The individuals described above include recent border crossers, fugitives from the immigration courts and repeat im-

migration violators. 
Definitions of Key Terms

Border Removal: An individual removed by ICE who 

is apprehended while attempting to illicitly enter the 

United States at or between the ports of entry by a CBP 

officer or agent. These individuals are also referred to as 

recent border crossers.

Criminal Offender: An individual convicted in the 

United States for one or more criminal offenses. This 

does not include civil traffic offenses. 

Immigration Fugitives: An individual who has failed 

to leave the United States based upon a final order of 

removal, deportation or exclusion, or who has failed to 

report to ICE after receiving notice to do so.

Interior Removal: An individual removed by ICE who 

is identified or apprehended in the United States by 

an ICE officer or agent. This category excludes those 

apprehended at the immediate border while attempting 

to unlawfully enter the United States. 

Other Removable Alien: An individual who is not 

confirmed to be a convicted criminal, recent border 

crosser or fall under another ICE civil enforcement 

priority category. This category may include individuals 

removed on national security grounds or for general 

immigration violations.

Previously Removed Alien: An individual previously 

removed or returned who has re-entered the country 

illegally again.

Reinstatement of Final Removal Order: The removal 

of an alien based on the reinstatement of a prior removal 

order, where the alien departed the United States under 

an order of removal and illegally reentered the United 

States [INA § 241(a)(5)]. The alien may be removed 

without a hearing before an immigration court.

Removal: The compulsory and confirmed movement 

of an inadmissible or deportable alien out of the United 

States based on an order of removal. An individual 

who is removed may have administrative or criminal 

consequences placed on subsequent reentry owing to the 

fact of the removal.

Interior Apprehensions and Removals

In FY 2013, ICE conducted 133,551 removals of 

individuals apprehended in the interior of the United 

States. 

ICE focused interior enforcement operations on 

convicted criminals with an emphasis on those convicted 

of the most serious crimes. 82 percent of all removals 

from the interior of the U.S. were previously convicted 

of a criminal offense. 72 percent of the convicted 

criminals removed from the interior were convicted of 

an ICE Level 1 or Level 2 offense.4

Interior Criminal Removals by Level

Level 1 52,935 48%

Level 2 26,203 24%

Level 3 30,977 28%

Many of the criminal aliens removed from the interior 

of the U.S. also fell into other ICE priority categories. 60 

percent of ICE’s interior criminal alien removals were 

previously removed from the U.S. or were immigration 

fugitives, and 63 percent of all interior Level 3 removals 

had been previously removed or had absconded from 

the immigration courts. 

FY 2013 Level 3 Interior Removals

Total removals 30,977

17,547	
  

2,076	
  

11,354	
  

Prior	
  Removals	
  

Fugi9ves	
  

Remaining	
  Level	
  3	
  

Removals	
  

Interior Removal Breakdown

Threat Level/Priority Removals

Convicted

Criminal

Level 1 52,935

Level 2 26,203

Level 3 30,977

Immigration Fugitives 2,742

Repeat Immigration Violators 10,358

Other Removals 10,336

4

 Level 1 offenders are those aliens convicted of “aggravated felonies,” as defined in § 101(a)(43) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, or two (2) or 

more crimes each punishable by more than 1 year, commonly referred to as “felonies.” Level 2 offenders are aliens convicted of any other felony or three 

(3) or more crimes each punishable by less than 1 year, commonly referred to as “misdemeanors.” Level 3 offenders are aliens convicted of “misdemeanor” 

crime(s) punishable by less than 1 year.

2 ICE Immigration Removals
Border Security Removals 

In FY 2013, ICE continued to prioritize border security, 

partnering with CBP officers and the U.S. Border Patrol 

to process and remove individuals apprehended while 

attempting to unlawfully enter the United States.

In FY 2013, ICE removed 235,093 recent border 

crossers. Many of those apprehended along the border 

had a prior criminal or civil immigration violations 

in the United States. Of those recent border crossers 

removed, 106,695 had a criminal conviction.

Border Removal Breakdown

Agency Level/Priority Removals

Office of 

Border 

Patrol 

Convicted

Criminal

Level 1 19,472

Level 2 20,049

Level 3 62,517

Immigration Fugitives 3,163

Repeat Immigration 

Violators

60,453

Apprehensions and 

Other

Border Removals

59,078

Total OBP 224,732

Office 

of Field 

Operations 

Convicted

Criminal

Level 1 1,752

Level 2 946

Level 3 1,959

Immigration Fugitives 93

Repeat Immigration 

Violators

1,443

Apprehensions and 

Other

Border Removals

4,168

Total OFO 10,361

ICE Immigration Removals 3

Overall, FY 2013 border removals represented a slight 

(3 percent) increase over FY 2012 border removals: 

Changing Demographics of Border Apprehensions 

In FY 2013, the numbers of removals by ICE following 

a CBP apprehension increased, in part, due to the rise in 

the number of individuals apprehended by CBP officers 

and agents from countries other than Mexico 

In FY 2012, 71,257 of the recent border crossers 

removed by ICE following a CBP apprehension were 

from countries other than Mexico. In FY 2013, this 

number rose by 27 percent to 90,461. This shift in 

the demographics of border apprehensions triggered 

an increase in ICE’s use of its detention and removal 

resources for recent border crossers as CBP is only able 

to effectuate the return of individuals to Mexico. 

Overall Criminal Alien Removals 

Overall, ICE conducted 216,810 removals of convicted 

criminals in FY 2013, the highest percentage of removals 

(59 percent) recorded for the previous five fiscal years. 

Convicted criminal removals, as a percentage of total 

removals, increased by four percent in FY 2013, and 

Level 1 removals, as a percentage of total removals, 

increased by one percent from FY 2012. Overall, 

74,159 of the convicted criminals removed were Level 

1 offenders, 47,198 were Level 2 offenders and 95,453 

were Level 3 offenders.

The majority of Level 1 and Level 2 offenders – 65 

percent – were apprehended in the interior of the U.S. 

Conversely, 68 percent of all Level 3 offenders were 

of individuals who were apprehended at the border and 

who also were previously convicted of a crime in the 

U.S., fulfilling two of ICE’s stated priorities. 
4 ICE Immigration Removals

Non-Criminal Removals

The overwhelming majority of ICE’s non-criminal 

removals in FY 2013 were individuals encountered 

by CBP agents and officers while trying to unlawfully 

enter the United States. Eighty-five percent (128,398) of 

ICE’s 151,834 non-criminal removals were individuals 

attempting to unlawfully enter the U.S. Overall, 93 

percent of all ICE’s non-criminal removals were of 

recent border crossers, repeat immigration violators, or 

fugitives from the immigration courts. 

Removed Population by Citizenship 

In FY 2013, Mexico continued to be the leading country 

of origin for those removed, followed by Guatemala, 

Honduras and El Salvador.

FY 2013 Top 10 Countries of Removal by Citizenship

Citizenship Total

MEXICO 241,493

GUATEMALA 47,769

HONDURAS 37,049

EL SALVADOR 21,602

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 2,462

ECUADOR 1,616

BRAZIL 1,500

COLOMBIA 1,429

NICARAGUA 1,383

JAMAICA 1,119

Top 10 Total 357,422

Legal Framework of Removal

In FY 2013, ICE conducted 101,000 removals of 

individuals following the issuance of an order of 

expedited removal. 159,624 were subject to a reinstated 

final order, and 23,455 voluntarily returned to their 

home country. The majority of the remaining 75,336 

ICE removals in FY 2013 were issued a final order of 

removal by an Immigration Judge within the Department 

of Justice Executive Office of Immigration Review. 
Appendix A: Methodology

Data Source:

Data used to report on ICE statistics are obtained 

through the ICE Integrated Decision Support (IIDS) 

system data warehouse.

Data Run Dates:

FY 2013: IIDS v1.14 run date 10/06/2013; ENFORCE 

Integrated Database (EID) as of 10/04/2013

FY 2012: IIDS v1.12 run date 10/07/2012; EID as of 

10/05/2012

FY 2011: IIDS run date 10/07/2011; EID as of 

10/05/2011

FY 2010: IIDS run date 10/05/2010; EID as of 

10/03/2010

FY 2009: Removals and Returns are adjusted historic 

number of an IIDS run date of 8/16/2010 (EID as of 

8/14/10) and will remain static. 

Removals 

Removals data is historical and remains static. Removals 

include Returns. Returns include Voluntary Returns, 

Voluntary Departures and Withdrawals Under Docket 

Control.

Starting in FY2009, ICE began to “lock” removal 

statistics on Oct. 5 at the end of each fiscal year and 

counted only the aliens whose removal or return was 

already confirmed. Aliens removed or returned in 

that fiscal year but not confirmed until after Oct. 5 

were excluded from the locked data and thus from 

ICE statistics. To ensure an accurate and complete 

representation of all removals and returns, ICE will 

include the removals and returns confirmed after Oct. 

5 into the next fiscal year. The number of removals 

in FY2012, excluding the “lag” from FY2011, was 

402,919. The number of removals in FY2013, excluding 

the “lag” from FY2012, was 363,144.

FY Data Lag/Case Closure Lag is defined as the 

physical removal of an alien occurring in a given 

month; however, the case is not closed in EARM until 

a subsequent FY after the data is locked. Since the data 

from the previous FY is locked, the removal is recorded 

in the month the case was closed and reported in the 

next FY Removals. This will result in a higher number 

of recorded removals in an FY than actual departures.

Any voluntary return on or after June 1, 2013, whose 

case does not have an ICE book-in will not be recorded 

as an ICE removal.

ERO Removals include aliens processed for Expedited 

Removal (ER) and turned over to ERO for detention. 

Aliens processed for ER and not detained by ERO are 

primarily processed by Border Patrol. CBP should be 

contacted for those statistics.

FY 2012 – FY 2013 Removals include ATEP removals. 

Criminality

The ICE Levels reflect the priorities outlined in the June 

2010 memorandum entitled ICE Civil Immigration 

Enforcement Priorities effective October 1, 2010. Since 

FY 2011, ICE has defined criminality as whether or 

not an alien has a recorded criminal conviction from 

certified criminal history repositories. For purposes 

of prioritizing the removal of aliens convicted of 

crimes, ICE personnel refer to the following offense 

levels: Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3 offenders. Level 

1 offenders are those aliens convicted of “aggravated 

felonies,” as defined in § 101(a)(43) of the Immigration 

and Nationality Act, or two or more crimes each 

punishable by more than one year, commonly referred 

to as “felonies.” Level 2 offenders are aliens convicted 

of any other felony or three or more crimes each 

punishable by less than one year, commonly referred 

to as “misdemeanors.” Level 3 offenders are aliens 

convicted of “misdemeanor” crime(s) punishable by 

less than one year. Prior to FY 2011, ICE used SC levels 

1, 2, and 3 for prioritization purposes.

ICE Immigration Removals 5