BY KETTY RODRIGUEZ

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported a record number of undocumented immigrants and foreign criminal convicts in the 12-month period ending Sept. 30, in a bid to reduce the number of illegal migrants in the United States.

Nationwide, the agency removed 349,041 foreign nationals, or 20 percent more compared to the 288,663 people deported in fiscal year 2007.

A third of those expelled in fiscal year 2008 were criminal convicts.

The increase is all the more remarkable compared to the 116,460 removals carried out in 2002.

In Florida, the number of deportations undertaken by ICE also hit a record, with the removal of 12,753 foreign nationals.

The number of Florida deportations in fiscal year 2007 amounted to 9,105.

''We made a commitment to the American people to embark on an ambitious enforcement strategy aimed at securing our borders and strengthening our nation's immigration system,'' said Julie L. Myers, Homeland Security assistant secretary for ICE.

The official went on to say that the record number of removals nationwide ''reflect significant, steady progress toward'' the goal of securing the border.

The government's strategy of increasing deportations through raids, arrests and detentions has been widely criticized by immigration advocacy groups, which seek comprehensive immigration reform aimed at legalizing undocumented workers who have no criminal records.

''Instead of investing in the integration of immigrants, reducing delays in processing immigration document requests and improving service, Congress chose to invest in deportation programs and did not invest in the future of the country,'' said Ali Noorami, executive director of the National Immigration Forum, referring to money assigned to enforcement operations in 2009.

ICE's budget for next year is almost $5 billion, an increase of $254 million over 2008, along with an increase of 1,400 new beds in detention centers.

''Almost $1 billion will be used to identify foreign criminals, which will be very good, if that is what is really happening,'' said Noorami, who criticized raids to detain undocumented immigrants because they disrupt working families.

A recent study by the Pew Hispanic Center noted a decline in the number of undocumented immigrants.

The study said that the flow of undocumented immigrants had gone down by an annual average of 800,000 in 2004, to 500,000 between 2005 and 2008.

The study did not cite reasons for the decrease, but noted the economic slowdown and tougher enforcement of immigration laws. ICE, for its part, has three priorities that have assisted the agency in increasing the number of deportations:

• Locating foreign criminals in jails serving sentences, and finding immigration law fugitives who have final orders of deportation.

• Discouraging the employment of illegal workers.

• Dismantling the infrastructure that supports illegal immigration such as identity theft rings and networks that sell forged immigration documents to workers who have no proper immigration papers. In 2008, ICE arrested 1,625 people linked to those crimes, compared to 1,531 in 2007.