Deportations up 25 percent in New Jersey

New Jersey immigration officials say deportations and arrests for immigration violations reached record levels in 2008. The Newark field office of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, known as ICE, says that nearly 4,200 illegal immigrants were deported from the state during the fiscal year ending Sept. 30. Of those, about 1,200 had prior criminal convictions.

That's a 25 percent increase in deportations over the previous year. It represents slightly more than 1 percent of the estimated 350,000 illegal immigrants living in the Garden State.

Nationwide, the agency has been stepping up efforts to deport illegal immigrants, targeting those who have defied deportation orders or have criminal backgrounds. - AP