The number of targeted immigration arrests in San Diego has returned to levels from before former President Barack Obama changed enforcement priorities in late 2014.

A new study shows that nearly 20 percent of illegal aliens in the U.S. live in the metropolitan areas of New York and Los Angeles.

Also, new data shows that illegal immigrants in southern California are being arrested at roughly the same rate before former President Obama’s era of relaxed border policies, according to San Diego Union-Tribune.

Between February and May, nearly 550 illegal immigrants were arrested in San Diego alone by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.

Compare that to the number of illegal immigrants arrested in that same time period last year, where only 242 foreign nationals were arrested. In 2015, during the same time frame, ICE agents only arrested 267 illegal immigrants.

Authorities commented on the recent change of pace.

“We’re still focusing on criminals, but we’re not confined to them,” ICE’s Assistant Field Director in San Diego, Clinton Johnston told the San Diego Union-Tribune. “It’s the ability for us to enforce the law across the board.”

“All we’re trying to do is protect the community and remove the threats,” ICE San Diego Field Director for Enforcement and Removal Operations Greg Archambeault said.

Southern California, in particular, has been hit with a decade-long wave of immigration, violence and foreign cartel issues.

In a recent study by the Pew Research Center, researchers found that at least a million illegal immigrants live in southern California, as Breitbart Texas reported.

For San Diego, based on 2014 estimates, at least 170,000 illegal immigrants live in the region, while at least 120,000 illegal immigrants live in the San Jose area. Those figures are expected to be significantly higher than actually reported as the figures were taken before the Obama Administration decreased enforcement of immigration.

Sources: Breitbart San Diego Union-Tribune