Dallas ? Federal agents who track down fugitives on immigration charges arrested more than 30,000 people nationally in fiscal year 2007, nearly double the previous year’s total, officials said Tuesday.

Agents on the fugitive operations teams focus on finding people who haven’t appeared for immigration hearings or who stayed in the country after being ordered to leave by an immigration judge.

There were more than 30,408 arrests nationally in fiscal 2007, which ended Sept. 30, compared with 15,462 last year, ICE said. The backlog of fugitives was down by 38,000 to 595,000 for the new fiscal year.

The agency has increased the number of seven-member teams devoted to tracking down fugitives, from 52 in fiscal year 2006 to 75 now.