The non-detained docket of immigration cases managed by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is now more than double the number it was under former President Donald J. Trump. According to Fox News’s Bill Melugin, federal officials have confirmed the number of deportation cases has reached 7.4 million and will likely cross 8 million by the end of the fiscal year.
On average, each ICE officer must now manage well over 7,000 non-detained deportation cases. However, that number could likely be higher as not all of the agency’s 6,000 deportation officers work on the non-detained docket. Current staffing and funding levels at ICE have left the agency overwhelming and underprepared for the surge of illegal immigrants who’ve entered the country under the Biden government’s ongoing border crisis.
The non-detained docket pertains to cases where the illegal immigrant is not currently being held in ICE detention. These individuals have been released into the United States and given a notice to appear later before an immigration court. The docket additionally includes individuals who’ve already been ordered deported yet remain in the United States.
Since the start of the new fiscal year last October, the non-detained docket has added over one million cases. This explosion in number is due in large part to the Biden government’s ongoing use of catch-and-release policies. Combined with the nearly two million ‘gotaways‘—meaning illegal immigrants who were not processed by border agents—currently in the U.S., the task of identifying and removing those here unlawfully has become nearly impossible, according to federal immigration officials.