Mass Deportation Challenges: Nearly Two Million Immigrants in the U.S. with Deportation Orders or Criminal Records
Almost two million undocumented immigrants with deportation orders or criminal backgrounds reside in the United States, according to recent information.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is currently monitoring approximately 1.5 million individuals who have received orders to depart the country from immigration courts. Additionally, there are around 423,000 individuals among this population who have prior criminal convictions, as reported by the agency’s data.
However, sources within the Department of Homeland Security caution that achieving the removal of these two million individuals, as part of President Trump’s deportation efforts, is highly improbable due to the extensive number of cases involved.
“Tracking down, surveilling, and arresting these individuals is extremely time-intensive,” noted an insider. “We’ve apprehended many individuals with removal orders simply through random encounters.”
The source added, “Just because someone has a removal order doesn’t guarantee we can deport them right away.”
Factors such as granted stays of removal, asylum requests, or if the individual serves as an informant can all complicate the deportation process.
The almost two million undocumented immigrants are being monitored within ICE’s non-detained docket, which oversees over 7.5 million migrants not currently held in federal detention facilities.
Not every undocumented individual is confined in ICE facilities during their immigration cases. Many are released with court appearance notices, requiring them to report to ICE or to wear GPS tracking devices.
Under the Biden administration last year, the non-detained docket recorded around 7.4 million migrants, including 425,000 individuals with prior criminal convictions.
Consequently, ICE agents struggled to make significant progress, with each agent managing, on average, about 7,000 cases.
“There are countless cases that remain unaddressed,” stated a source, who emphasized that the agency’s recent hiring initiatives “will assist” in this challenge.
“This will necessitate the full commitment of the workforce,” the source added.
ICE has introduced bonuses of up to $50,000 to rehire retired agents, utilizing a portion of the $75 billion funding from Trump’s comprehensive budget plan. The agency aims to recruit 10,000 new agents with the new resources.
Furthermore, ICE is focusing on utilizing tracking technologies through its Alternatives to Detention program, given that detention centers currently house over 56,000 individuals.
This program is presently monitoring 182,000 individuals through ankle and wrist monitors, alongside a mobile application called SmartLink.
As many as 50,000 tracking devices are reportedly available for immediate use by ICE, according to a knowledgeable source.
“The agency could swiftly increase the number of individuals being monitored should they choose to do so, which would further advance the administration’s immigration objectives,” the source concluded.
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