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By Dan Gooding
Associate News Editor
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Newly released data showed nearly 1.5 million immigrants with deportation orders are living in communities across the United States, rather than in custody.
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) docket, first obtained by Fox News Digital, showed 1,445,549 citizens from 208 countries awaiting removal in November who were not held by the agency.
While some of the highest numbers matched the countries with the highest migration numbers into the U.S., such as Mexico, Venezuela, and Honduras, several countries in Europe, Africa and Asia each had hundreds of citizens due for repatriation.
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"ICE can't put everybody who's in front of the court in detention, there is not the kind of resources in the country for that, but the non-detained docket, it's more than doubled in the last four years, I don't think we've ever seen a jump that high, and in that short amount of time," Ron Vitiello, former acting chief of ICE, told Newsweek Thursday morning.
"So now what was a pretty intractable problem is now off the charts, difficult to solve."
Newsweek reached out to ICE for more on the non-detained docket Thursday morning via email.
According to the data shared by Fox, four countries had removal orders over 100,000:
- Honduras - 261,651
- Guatemala - 253,413
- Mexico - 252,044
- El Salvador - 203,822
Figures then dropped to below 50,000 per country, with China at 37,908. Some nations had just a handful of outstanding orders, such as Qatar with 10 and North Korea with 3.
What is Stopping These Deportations?
Vitiello explained that many illegal immigrants not being held in ICE custody have a very small footprint, making them difficult to track down.
Then once officers do find those with removal orders, they have to organize flights to their respective countries and that cannot happen without an agreement with the other nation.
Alongside the numbers, ICE was asked what the reasonings were for not following through on these deportations.
"ICE is unable to provide a list of case-specific reasons why the agency is unable to remove certain noncitizens on the non-detained docket with final orders," ICE said in its response.
"Noncitizens may pursue a form of relief or protection from removal, which may include asylum, withholding of removal, or protection under the Convention Against Torture."
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If any of those conditions are granted, ICE cannot remove that noncitizen. While the U.S. expects all countries to accept deportees, that is sometimes not the case.
China has been accused of not working well enough with the U.S. on accepting its repatriated citizens, but removal flights have steadily increased in recent months.
Currently, 15 countries are considered "uncooperative" by the U.S. including Cuba, India, Russia, and Venezuela. There are 11 others that are "at risk of noncompliance".
"The U.S. Government requests foreign governments take appropriate steps to confirm the citizenship of noncitizens suspected to be their nationals, which include conducting interviews, issuing travel documents in a timely manner, and accepting the physical return of their nationals by scheduled commercial or charter flights consistent with ICE and/or foreign government removal guidelines," ICE said.
Will Trump Speed Up Removals?
President-elect Donald Trump has promised to deport at least 11 million illegal immigrants, starting with those accused or convicted of committing crimes other than crossing the border illegally.
The list of 1.44 million people already tapped for removal could also be a starting point come January 20.
Vitiello said that the incoming administration could reallocate Department of Homeland Security (DHS) resources, including ICE, to seek out those with removal orders, while also increasing detention space to hold those awaiting deportation and asking Congress for additional funding for more officers.
President Barack Obama's Secure Communities Initiative, which alerted ICE to any noncitizens arrested by local or state agencies, could also be reinstated, Vitiello suggested.
"You could re-initiate that and force or leverage or entice what people call sanctuary cities to participate fully in that program," he said. "That will increase the numbers probably faster than any other thing that you do.
"You do however have an activism inside of some of these big cities that aren't going to allow, or not going to go quietly back into, those agreements for secure communities."
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