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SALT LAKE CITY -- In the middle of a growing national debate over what to do with undocumented workers, raids have been stepped up in the region.
In 2009, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Utah and three surrounding states arrested 2,020 illegal immigrants with a criminal past or deportation order. That's twice as many as they arrested the year before.
But according to the Salt Lake Tribune, immigration advocates say ICE more often is going after easy targets rather than getting rid of dangerous felons. A Yale University study says between 2003 and 2007, three-quarters of the people arrested did not have a criminal record.
ICE says they pursue anyone who has broken U.S. laws or has been ordered to leave.
