Fox exclusive: Migrants freed under ICE program exploded to over 7.4M

EXCLUSIVE: The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency’s non-detained docket has surged to over 7 million cases in fiscal year 2024.

Internal federal data obtained by Fox News shows that the ICE non-detained docket has hit 7.4 million cases and is on track to reach 8 million by the end of the fiscal year, multiple federal sources confirmed to Fox News.

The non-detained docket, which the agency’s website explains is part of its Alternatives to Detention program, provided case-management support to released migrants that ICE says has helped “support noncitizens compliance with release conditions” and “increased court appearance rates.”

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This split shows President Biden and migrants at the southern border. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta and Fox News)

However, the surge of migrants on the docket has exacerbated staffing issues at the agency, which only has about 6,000 deportation officers across the country, not all of whom work on the non-detained docket. As a result, each ICE officer working the docket is responsible for managing an average of 7,000 cases.

Working their way through the mountain of cases is essentially impossible at current manpower and resource levels, federal sources told Fox News, with the increased pace of border crossings putting heavy strain on ICE employees.

President Biden speaks with U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers as he visits the U.S.-Mexico border in El Paso, Texas, on Jan. 8, 2023. (JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)

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The non-detained docket has added more than 1 million cases since October 1 and more than doubled since President Biden took office in 2021, when the docket had just under 3.7 million cases on it.

The number of those on the non-detained docket also does not include the nearly 1.9 million recorded getaways that have entered the country since Biden took office, federal sources said, noting that those migrants have not had any contact with the Department of Homeland Security.

An ICE officer. (ICE)

Nevertheless, those 1.9 million are also the responsibility of ICE officers, who are tasked with tracking down and removing those migrants, in addition to managing the non-detained docket.

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Reached for comment by Fox News Digital, a White House spokesperson pointed to the bipartisan border security bill that failed to clear the Senate, arguing the legislation would have added funding and resources to critical agencies such as ICE.

“Congressional Republicans had an opportunity to support the fairest and toughest set of reforms in decades, and they chose to put partisan political interests ahead of fixing our immigration system and securing our borders,” the spokesperson said. “Congressional Republicans have proven that they do not care about securing our border because, frankly, if they did, they would have supported the bipartisan agreement.”

Fox News’ Bill Melugin contributed to this report.

Get the latest updates on the ongoing border crisis from the Fox News Digital immigration hub.