The US federal government is agonizingly slow and inept even when it tries to do the right thing. Consider: Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has a whopping seven million, more or less, noncitizens that are either going through removal procedures or have actually received final removal orders but are not in ICE’s custody. (Some may be in the custody of other law enforcement agencies.) The number has nearly doubled since fiscal 2021 when there were 3.7 individuals in that category. Some have have been in this country for decades. All who are not in detention are free to come and go around the country at will.
Of the seven million, more than 1.4 million have final deportation orders and are thus ready to be removed but are not in ICE detention. Here is a breakdown of that number by nationality:
Mexico (252,044)
Guatemala (253,413)
Honduras (261,651)
El Salvador (203,822)
China (37,908)
Haiti (32,363)
Iran (2,618)
Pakistan (776)
Uzbekistan (975)
Venezuela (22,749)
Why can even noncitizens who have final orders for deportation not be removed?
The government has all sorts of reasons why not: the potential deportees are appealing their orders, they are in an Alternatives to Detention program, they may be protected by the Convention Against Torture, or they may have been given some other “form of deportation protection.”
Or, their homeland may simply not want them back. Currently, 15 countries are considered “uncooperative” in accepting returns: Bhutan, Burma, Cuba, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Hong Kong, India, Iran, Laos, Pakistan, People’s Republic of China, Russia, Somalia and Venezuela. (Most of those countries have somewhat sketchy relations with the United States, but India?)
The problem with executing the removal orders already issued is thus two-fold: one, the US allows aliens far too many loopholes to avoid deportation, and two, the State Department is far too passive in its dealings with recalcitrant countries that are reluctant to re-admit their wayward citizens. The new administration has a lot of work to do to fix things.
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