(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-12-05 10:38

LOS ANGELES -- US customs officials announced Tuesday that immigration law enforcement officers who track down criminal illegal aliens and immigration fugitives made nearly twice as many arrests in the 2007 fiscal year than in the previous fiscal year.

And for the first time since records have been kept, the fugitive alien population in the country is on the decline, according to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

During the fiscal year that ended on September 30, ICE's Fugitive Operations Teams arrested 30,408 people, up from 15,462 in the previous fiscal year, the agency reported.

In the Los Angeles area, ICE's five Fugitive Operations Teams arrested 2,667 people for immigration violations, a 63-percent increase over the previous year. Among those arrested, 576 had criminal records in addition to being in the country illegally, ICE said.

"We are continuously improving our ability to identify, locate and apprehend those who either pose a threat to our communities or choose to ignore an immigration judge's order of removal," said Jim Hayes, ICE's Los Angeles field office director for detention and removal.

ICE established its Fugitive Operations Program in 2003 to eliminate the country's backlog of immigration fugitives and to ensure that deportation orders handed down by immigration judges were enforced.

The teams prioritize cases involving immigration violators who pose a threat to national security and community safety, including child sexual exploiters, suspected gang members and those who have convictions for any violent crime.

The ICE was established in March 2003 as the largest investigative arm of the US Department of Homeland Security.