500,000 US citizens naturalized in 2004

Some 500,000 new US citizens were naturalized in 2004, the Homeland Security Department said onThursday.

More than 20,000 children from around the world were adopted byUS families this year due to petitions processed by the Citizenship and Immigration Services, according to a statement detailing the department's accomplishments and statistics in 2004.

A total of 428 million passengers and pedestrians, including 262 million foreigners, were processed at land, air, and sea portsof entry, with over 643,000 aliens denied entry into the country.

Meanwhile, 1,158,800 illegal aliens were arrested by Border Patrol agents between official ports of entry, and from Septemberthrough November, over 23,000 individuals with criminal records were identified and arrested. Eight-four of those detained were murder suspects and 151 were wanted for sexual assault.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers and agents made 56,321 seizures of illegal drugs, with a total weight of 2,199,619 pounds (997,747 kg) worth an estimated 2.62 billion US dollars.

Together with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the CBP seized more than 138 million dollars worth of counterfeit goods infiscal 2004, up from 94 million dollars worth of counterfeit goodsin the previous year.

Source: Xinhua