47 Irish citizens were deported from the United States last year, according to official figures.
The data, released by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency today, shows that this was an almost 40% increase on 2017 when 34 Irish people were deported.
According to ICE, more than 256,000 people were deported from the US in 2018.
This marked an increase of almost 30,000 on the previous year.
The highest proportion of people deported from the US in 2018 were Mexican citizens with more than 141,000 removed from the country by ICE.
This was followed by people from Guatemala (50,000), Honduras (29,000) and El Salvador (15,000).
209 UK citizens were deported.
The latest statistics "demonstrate the agency’s strengthened interior enforcement measures and show significant success in identifying, arresting, and removing aliens who are in violation of U.S. law, particularly those who pose a public safety or national security threat", the report says.
