Central America Increasingly Overwhelmed by U.S. Deportation of Criminal Aliens

Responding to increased criminal activities among immigrant gangs, in 1996 the U.S. Congress passed The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (PL 104-208) (“1996 Immigration Law”), an aggressive immigration strategy to deport criminal non-citizens back to their home countries without warning local law enforcement in the receiving country. For Central American countries, the 1996 Immigration Law created significant law enforcement and national security concerns as violent criminals and Latino gang members were deported en masse back to their countries of origin. New narcotic drugs were introduced to vulnerable populations and law enforcement saw a notable increase in homicides, mutilations, rapes, human trafficking, weapons and drug smuggling, and other illegal activities. Now these gangs have created cross-border networks with other branches and the Mexican mafia, transporting various illegal imports from drugs and guns to migrants entering the U.S.