ICE officials are attempting to deport over 200,000 criminals who are doing illegal things in this country… illegally. Their goal is to identify, and subsequently deport, unauthorized criminals currently serving time:

The effort to speed the deportation of foreign-born criminals is part of a campaign by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency to help federal and state prisons reduce the costs of housing immigrants, the official, Julie L. Myers, assistant secretary of homeland security and head of the agency, said in an interview.

In 2007, Ms. Myers said, the agency, known as ICE, brought formal immigration charges against 164,000 immigrants who are behind bars nationwide for crimes committed in this country. Many of those immigrants are still in the United States and are also slated for deportation this year, she said. By comparison, in 2006, the agency identified 64,000 immigrants behind bars, most of whom were deported.

The big increase in deportations will place “a significant burden,” on ICE’s detention centers, she said, and on the airplanes, mostly from the Justice Department, used by the agency to fly immigrants back to their home countries. Last year, Congress authorized $200 million for programs to deport immigrant criminals.

It’s like a free family vacation, only slightly more tinged with loathing and regret. But, wait. What’s this?:

In general, immigrants end up in prison at significantly lower rates than people born in this country, said Rubén G. Rumbaut, a sociology professor at the University of California, Irvine, who studies immigrants and crime. Among men between the ages of 18 and 39, Mr. Rumbaut has found, Americans are five times more likely to land in prison than immigrants.

Well, how ‘bout that?

U.S. to Speed Deportation of Criminals in Jail [NY Times]