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The Department of Homeland Security on Thrusday released a fact sheet of “End of Year Accomplisments.” It includes:

— Customs and Border Protection (CBP) increased the size of its work force last year from 46,473 to 51,533 by adding officers, agents and agriculture specialists.

— CBP has doubled the size of the Border Patrol from about 9,000 in 2001 to more than 18,000 as of Nov. 21, 2008.

— CBP has constructed more than 520 miles of vehicle and pedestrian fencing along the Southern Border, including about 93 miles in Fiscal Year 2008. The agency is building toward a total of roughly 670 miles of fencing.

— Since January 2008, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) removed or returned more than 323,000 undocumented immigrants from the United States, about a 20 percent increase over the previous year.

— ICE dramatically increased penalties against employers whose hiring processes violate the law, securing fines and judgments totaling in the millions, as well as jail time for the most egregious offenders.

Check out the full press release here.

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