An investigation conducted by the department’s inspector general found that only 13% of illegal immigrants who had been ordered to leave the country but were not arrested actually left. Looking separately at immigrants from countries the U.S. has designated as “state sponsors of terrorism,” the situation is even worse: only 6% of those ordered to leave the country actually departed.
According to the report’s authors, as of June 2002 there were about 355,000 illegal immigrants in the United States who had been ordered to leave the country but had not done so. In addition, the INS managed to deport only 3% of people whom U.S. authorities had denied asylum. “Such a low rate for this category of individuals raises concerns, as potential terrorists who pose a threat to national security may be in this group,” the report says. “We found that several people convicted of terrorist activity in the United States applied for political asylum in an attempt to remain in the country.”