U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has released without a court date approximately 50,000 migrants who crossed the southern border of the U.S. illegally between mid-March and mid-July of this year, Axios recently reported.
While every migrant is told to report to an ICE office within 60 days of their release, only 13% of approximately 50,000 had shown up by the time of the Axios story posting on July 27.
"50,000 without a court date ... that's 50% of the entire population of my hometown of San Angelo, TX," U.S. Rep. August Pfluger (R-San Angelo) wrote in a tweet.
Approximately 27,000 migrants who have crossed into the U.S. and were released have not yet reported to an ICE office, but are still within the 60-day reporting window, Axios reported. A source in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security emphasized that approximately 70% of migrants have either reported to ICE or are still within the 60-day window for reporting.
"While individuals have 60 days to check in with ICE, many are proactively reaching out to ICE to begin their official immigration processing, including by receiving a 'notice to appear,'" Meira Bernstein, Department of Homeland Security spokesperson, told Axios.
Approximately 16,000 migrants have not shown up to report to ICE who have passed the 60-day window for doing so. That equals about 2.4 no-shows per every person that has reported so far, Axios reported.
Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) told the news outlet that as of Monday, July 26, approximately 7,300 migrants in the Rio Grande Valley sector had been released during the previous week without court dates.
The Rio Grande Valley had nearly 20,000 apprehensions in one recent week, Chief Patrol Agent Brian Hastings said in a July 25 tweet.
"It's the hottest part of the summer and apprehensions are skyrocketing! U.S. Border Patrol apprehensions surpassed the 1-million milestone in June. Now this week alone Rio Grande Valley has apprehended more than 20K illegally present migrants," Hastings said.
Giving border patrol agents discretion to release migrants without a court date is unprecedented, Axios reported, and is driven by a surge in migration during the past year.
NBC News reported on a March 20 document from U.S. Customs and Border Patrol authorizing its agents to release migrants without an "order to appear" when conditions warrant, such as when the detention facilities are at 100 percent capacity.
"Since April 2020, the number of encounters at the southwest border has been steadily increasing," Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a March statement. "Border Patrol Agents are working around the clock to process the flow at the border and I have great respect for their tireless efforts."
The Rio Grande Detention Center in Laredo, Texas has 672 beds, according to a January 2021 ICE inspection report.