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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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.

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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.

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.

The White House and ICE did not immediately respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment.

Fox News' Bill Melugin contributed to this report.

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

Bill Maher clashes with Charlamagne tha God, calls it 'zombie lie' that life 'five times' harder for Blacks

HBO host Bill Maher pushed back on Charlamagne tha God's claims Friday that Black Americans need to work "five times" harder than the rest of America to achieve the same results, calling it a "zombie lie."

Maher was responding to President Biden's commencement speech in May at Morehouse College, a historically Black institution, during which Biden asked, "What is democracy if you have to be 10 times better than anyone else to get a fair shot?"

"You agree with that?" Maher asked. 

"I don’t know if it’s ten times better, but maybe five," Charlamagne said.

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"Come on!" Maher responded. "You think you have to be five times?"

"Yeah," Charlamagne said. "When you're Black in America, absolutely. When you’re a woman in America, if you’re a Black woman in America? Absolutely!" 

"I think that’s a zombie lie," Maher said, adding that he doesn't believe that Charlamagne's position is representative of the country any longer.

Biden's supporters have been split on polls showing that the president is losing support among Black voters to former President Trump in advance of the election in November. 

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Charlamagne has repeatedly mocked Biden for being out of touch with Black voters, most recently for a clip that went viral of the president appearing awkward and stiff at a Juneteenth event at the White House. 

Charlamagne bashed the president earlier this month on his podcast, "Brilliant Idiots," saying, "President Biden don’t know what’s going on. Kirk Franklin is onstage performing… I just want to know why Joe Biden is just sitting like he’s f------ buffering."

The radio host added, "Joe Biden probably was thinking, ‘Yo, there hasn’t been this many Black people on the White House lawn since they built this place."

Biden and Charlamagne memorably clashed during the 2020 election when Biden said "you ain't Black" if you were torn between him and Trump for president. 

The Biden campaign did not respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital

Fox News' Hanna Panreck and Gabriel Hays contributed to this report.