New deportation cases brought by the Obama administration in immigration courts have been declining steadily since 2009, and judges have increasingly ruled against deportations, leading to a 43 percent drop in the number of deportations through the courts in the last five years, reports the New York Times. New Justice Department statistics show that the administration opened 26 percent fewer deportation cases in the courts last year than in 2009.
In 2013, immigration judges ordered deportations in 105,064 cases nationwide. The statistics present a different picture of President Obama's enforcement policies than the one painted by many immigrant advocates, who have assailed the president as the “deporter in chief.” While Obama has deported more foreigners than any other president, the pace of deportations has recently declined. The steepest drop in deportations filed in the courts came after 2011. Last year the Department of Homeland Security opened 187,678 deportation cases, nearly 50,000 fewer than in 2011.