NEW YORK: Nearly two million deportation cases in the United States involve people who had committed minor infractions, including traffic violations, or had no criminal record at all, the New York Times reported on Monday.

Only 20 per cent — or about 394,000 — of the cases involved people convicted of serious crimes, including drug-related offences.

Deportations have become one of the most contentious domestic issues of the Obama presidency, and an examination of the administration's record shows how the disconnect evolved between the president's stated goal of blunting what he called the harsh edge of immigration enforcement and the reality that has played out.

Obama came to office promising comprehensive immigration reform, but lacking sufficient support, the administration took steps it portrayed as narrowing the focus of enforcement efforts on serious criminals. Yet, the NYT says the records show that the enforcement net actually grew, picking up more and more immigrants with minor or no criminal records.

Five years into Obama’s presidency, neither side is satisfied.

"It would have been better for the administration to state its enforcement intentions clearly and stand by them, rather than being willing to lean whichever way seemed politically expedient at any given moment,” said David Martin, the deputy general counsel at the Department of Homeland Security until December 2010.

“They lost credibility on enforcement, despite all the deportations, while letting activists think they could always get another concession if they just blamed Obama. It was a pipedream to think they could make everyone happy."