DENVER — A federal report has shown fewer people in Colorado and Wyoming were arrested or deported this fiscal year for living illegally in the United States compared with last year.
The report released Wednesday showed U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials removed 3,125 people from the two states, compared with 3,253 the previous fiscal year, the Denver Post reported Thursday.
That number is still higher than the 2,746 people removed in 2017 and 1,033 people removed in 2016, officials said.
The federal government’s fiscal year runs from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials arrested 2,408 people this year compared with 2,755 the previous year, officials said.
The decline of local sanctuary laws and the diversion of resources to the U.S.-Mexico border could be the cause of lower regional numbers, immigration officials said.
Nationally, deportations were up and immigration-related arrests were down, officials said. According to the report, 267,258 people were deported and about 143,000 people were arrested across the country.
