Over 600,000 undocumented immigrants are awaiting their mandatory deportation. A recent U.S. Department of Defense Office of the Inspector General report shows how difficult the problem of illegal immigration really is.

According to the report, there are 52 teams in the United States that track down fugitive aliens who are trying to avoid their mandatory deportation. Despite the $200 million spent out of the taxpayers’ pockets over the past three years, the list of immigrants who are included in the Absconder Apprehension Initiative operation is getting longer.

The report acknowledges that the federal authorities don’t know exactly how many people they are looking for, because many of those who are on the “black list” have already left the country by themselves, changed their status, or died.

Immigrants who are included in the fugitive aliens list are not necessarily criminals. Some of them have been entangled in their immigration application that has failed for one reason or another, while others had been caught working illegally. But there are also those who didn’t show up for their hearing before an immigration judge or have ignored their deportation order. Most of these immigrants have families, jobs, and own houses – just like anyone who lives peacefully in the United States.

Immigration authorities said that removal of the deportation backlog will take at least six years, adding that the illegal immigration problem will not be solved in any way given the difficulties they face removing over half a million of people who have been already officially ordered to leave the United States.

Assuming that there are about 12 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States, this would indicate that taking care of only five percent of the immigrants, who are recognized as the most dangerous, exceeds the capabilities of the current administration.

The immigration authorities know very little or nothing about the great majority of the remaining 11.5 million illegal aliens. This doesn’t exactly earn a good name for the Department of National Defense in its sixth year of its fight against terrorism and taking responsibility for the execution of immigration laws. To such extent, the Department has managed to keep track of those entering the United States by tightening its immigration procedures and discouraging many tourists from coming into the country; however, it is not and will not be capable in the near future of keeping track of the majority of the people leaving the U.S. territory legally.

The Department of Defense Office of the Inspector General report makes a case for implementation of a comprehensive immigration reform. This is the only way that the U.S. government would be able to obtain information on millions of illegal aliens, many of whom have been living in the United States for many years.