Deportations up 10 percent in Pacific Northwest

SEATTLE — Federal officials say deportations from Washington, Oregon and Alaska are up by nearly 10 percent from a year ago.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement also says that deportations of illegal immigrants with criminal records have spiked by 50 percent.

For the first nine months of the federal fiscal year — October through June — more than 8,000 deportations originated from the Pacific Northwest. That compares to 7,345 in the same period last year. There have been bigger increases in previous years — for example, deportations between fiscal years 2007 and 2008 increased by 40 percent.

Illegal immigrants with criminal records now make up the largest share of the region’s total deportations, at 60 percent.