Elliot Spagat

U.S. authorities say arrests for illegally crossing the border from Mexico fell 7% in September to a more than four-year low.

President-elect Donald Trump named Stephen Miller his deputy chief of staff and Tom Homan as his “border czar,” appointing a battle-tested duo to design and direct immigration policy from the

Stephen Miller and Thomas Homan portray illegal immigration as a black-and-white issue and applaud Trump’s policy of targeting everyone living in the country without status for deportation.

SAN DIEGO — Donald Trump's first picks for immigration policy jobs spent the last four years angling for this moment.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported more than 270,000 people to 192 countries over a recent 12-month period, the highest annual tally in a decade, according to a report released Thursday that illustrates some of the financial and operational challenges that President-elect Donald Trump will face to carry out his pledge of mass deportations. ICE, the main government agency responsible for removing people in the country illegally, had 271,484 deportations in its fiscal year ended Sept. 30, nearly double from 142,580 in the same period a year earlier. It was ICE's highest deportation count since 2014, when it removed 315,943 people.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported more than 270,000 people to 192 countries over a recent 12-month period

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported more than 270,000 people over a recent 12-month period.

Over the 12-month period ended Sept. 30, Mexico was the most common destination for deportees (87,298), followed by Guatemala (66,435) and Honduras (45,923).

Six people were found dead on the property in Aguanga, in Riverside County, and a woman who was shot there died later at a hospital

McALLEN, Texas -- U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported more than 270,000 people to 192 countries over a recent 12-month period, the highest annual tally in a decade, according to a report released Thursday that illustrates some of the financial and operational challenges that President-elect Donald Trump will face to carry out his pledge of mass deportations.