Previously deported unauthorized immigrants are over 2.5 times more likely to be arrested again than those who have not been deported

Since 2008, U.S. federal immigration has operated its ‘Secure Communities’ policy where arrestee’s identifiers are checked against immigration records. Federal immigration also identifies unauthorized immigrants who have been previously removed as a group that poses a risk to the community. Using a sample of nearly 3,000 foreign born inmates Jennifer Wong and Laura J. Hickman find that 91 percent of those who had previously been removed were rearrested within nine years, and that they were likely to be rearrested more frequently, and more quickly, compared to those who have never been removed.