Deportations up 40 percent in Pacific Northwest

The number of deportations for Washington, Oregon and Alaska are up by 40 percent from last year.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials say the number of illegal aliens deported from those three states was 7,345 for the first nine months of the fiscal year. That number was up from 5,256 for the same period last year.

Officials say the surge is due to a 26 percent increase in deportations of illegal aliens with criminal records. Of the 7,300 deported, more than 2,000 had prior criminal convictions.

Nationwide, the number of deportations increased from 210,000 to 234,000.