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WASHINGTON (AP) —
The Obama administration formally disclosed Tuesday that it deported the fewest immigrants since 2006.
Between October 2014 and September 2015 the Homeland Security Department oversaw the deportation of about 235,413 people. At the same time, 337,117 people were arrested trying to cross the border illegally.
The Associated Press in October reported that Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported about 231,000 people as of Sept. 28.
DHS has previously said the drop in deportations overseen by ICE is largely due to the decline in arrests at the border. Border arrests dropped about 30 percent from 2014 to 2015. The 2015 border arrests included roughly 79,800 people traveling as families and children traveling alone, mostly from Central America.
The overall total of deportations generally does not include Mexicans caught at the border and quickly returned home by the Border Patrol.
"Last year's removal numbers reflect this department's increased focus on prioritizing convicted criminals and threats to public safety, border security and national security," DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson said in a statement.
Roughly 136,700 convicted criminals were deported in the 2015 budget year. The share of criminal immigrant deported rose slightly from about 56 percent to roughly 59 percent from 2014 to 2015, though the overall num.
Obama's immigration policies have been alternately criticized as too harsh and too weak.
Immigrant advocates derisively dubbed the president the "Deporter-In-Chief" after ICE removed a record of more than 409,000 immigrants in 2012.
Meanwhile Republicans have decried his policies as "back-door amnesty."
The question of what to do with the estimated 11 million immigrants living in the country illegally and how to enforce immigration laws has been a top topic in the 2016 presidential race. Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton has pledged to be "less harsh and aggressive" than Obama while Republican Donald Trump has pledged to deport millions of people in the country illegally and build a wall along the Mexican border to stop future illegal immigration.
DALLAS (AP) --
A manhunt is underway for a Texas teenager sentenced to probation in 2013 for killing four people in a drunken-driving wreck after his defense lawyers claimed he suffered from "affluenza." Authorities say he missed an appointment last week with his probation officer and the juvenile equivalent of an arrest warrant was issued for him. He's believed to have fled with his mother, with whom he'd been living. Here are a few questions surrounding the case involving 18-year-old Ethan Couch:
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DO AUTHORITIES KNOW WHERE COUCH MAY BE?
Officials say they don't know his whereabouts and have expressed concern that he may have left the country, although Sam Jordan, a spokeswoman for the Tarrant County district attorney's office, says there's no specific indication that he has crossed the border.
"He and his mother have the means to be able to travel to wherever they may want to travel," Jordan said.
Couch was supposed to be accompanied by a parent for a regular visit Dec. 10 with his probation officer. When he didn't show, authorities issued an order for his arrest the next day.
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WHY WOULD HE HAVE FLED?
Tarrant County investigators were looking for Couch to ask him about a video posted online a few weeks ago showing people at a party playing drinking games. One of them appears to be Couch, and if found to be drinking, his parole could be revoked and a 10-year prison sentence could be imposed. Tarrant County Sheriff Dee Anderson said Friday that he believes Couch fled in the days after the video came to light. He said Couch and his mother may have left the area in late November, shortly after Couch attended a mandatory meeting with his probation officer and well before their next scheduled meeting on Dec. 10.
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WHY WASN'T COUCH ALREADY IN PRISON FOR KILLING FOUR PEOPLE?
In June 2013 at age 16, Couch was driving drunk and speeding on a dark two-lane road south of Fort Worth when he crashed into a disabled SUV off to the side, killing four people. Among the injured were some of the seven minors who were in Couch's pickup. Couch pleaded guilty to four counts of intoxication manslaughter and two counts of intoxication assault causing serious bodily injury. Because of his age, he wasn't certified as an adult for trial and a judge sentenced him in juvenile court to 10 years' probation and a stint in a rehabilitation center.
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WHAT IS 'AFFLUENZA'?
During the sentencing phase of his juvenile court trial, Couch's attorneys relied on a defense expert who argued that Couch's wealthy parents coddled him into a sense of irresponsibility - a condition the expert termed affluenza. The condition is not recognized as a medical diagnosis by the American Psychiatric Association, and its invocation drew widespread criticism and ridicule.
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IS COUCH'S MOTHER FACING CHARGES?
Terry Grisham, a spokesman for the Tarrant County Sheriff's Department, said investigators haven't confirmed whether Tonya Couch fled with her son and he declined to say whether she's facing any charges.
"We are only assuming that they're together," Grisham said. "They're both missing. But no one has placed them together outside of Tarrant County."
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WHERE IS COUCH'S FATHER?
Anderson, the Tarrant County sheriff, said Couch's father, Fred Couch, told investigators that he hasn't heard from his son or ex-wife in about two weeks.
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) —
A Sikh junior high student of Indian descent has admitted threatening to detonate a bomb at school, police in North Texas said Thursday.
While a young woman who claims on social media to be the boy's cousin says he was falsely accused by a bully, police said the suspect never mentioned being bullied into making the threats.
Arlington police Lt. Christopher Cook said the boy, listed as 13 by police, was arrested last week on a charge of making a terroristic threat at Nichols Junior High School. He said the boy told another student last Thursday that he had a bomb in his backpack. Cook said the next day, the boy made the claim again to the same student and elaborated that he would take his backpack into a bathroom and have the bomb detonate in one minute.
Cook said the other student was troubled by the claim and told a teacher who then notified police. The classroom was evacuated last Friday and the backpack was inspected but no explosive device was found.
A message left by The Associated Press at a telephone number believed to belong to the boy's family drew no response Thursday.
The young woman who said she was the boy's cousin posted on social media that he was set up by a "bully" and that authorities never notified the family of his arrest. She says the boy was born Sikh and raised in Texas and claims he was targeted because of the color of his skin.
Sikhism is a more-than-500-year-old religion founded in India.
Someone claiming to be a brother of the boy posted on social media that he and other students were joking about a bomb threat together. Both of the people who say they are family members said the boy was 12 years old.
The case comes three months after a 14-year-old Muslim boy of Pakistani descent was arrested at his high school in nearby Irving, another Dallas-Fort Worth suburb, after he brought a homemade clock to school that was mistaken for a possible bomb.
Ahmed Mohamed was detained but quickly released. His family questioned whether he was mistreated due to his religion and eventually left Irving after reporting threats. They now live in Qatar. His lawyers have threatened the Texas city and the school district with a lawsuit, and the U.S. Justice Department is investigating the incident.
Cook said the boy in the Arlington school incident admitted that he made the bomb claim but insisted he was joking.
"The suspect never told us anything about being bullied," the lieutenant said. "The ethnicity or race does not figure into our investigation in any way. There is nothing in the report that would indicate that the suspect was set up. Keep in mind he admitted to officers that he made the threats and that he was just kidding."
The boy was taken to a juvenile detention facility last Friday, and Arlington school district spokeswoman Leslie Johnston said his family was notified of his arrest. A Tarrant County Juvenile Services spokesman declined to say how long the boy was kept in the facility.
Johnston, who would only release few details because of student privacy laws, said officials acted solely on the threat that was made last week.
"We are confident that our actions are appropriate in all respects," she said.