The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s US Immigration and Enforcement Agency says it removed a total of 240,255 immigrants from the country in fiscal year 2016, a two percent increase over FY 2015.
The leading countries of origin for removals were all Latin American – Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. Almost 2,000 immigrants were sent back to the Dominican Republic and 787 to Jamaica in FY 2016.
Jamaican Roots Senator Kamala Harris was on Tuesday sworn into office as only the first African-American senator in the state of California’s history.
Harris was among seven new members of the Senate who joined those who won re-election in receiving the oath of office from Vice President Joe Biden Tuesday afternoon.
Harris, who was the state’s attorney general, is the daughter of immigrants from India and Jamaica. In addition to becoming California’s first African-American senator, she is also the first Indian-American, the first biracial woman and the second African-American to serve in the U.S. Senate.