Detainees Leaving ICE Detention from the
Southwest Key Lemon Grove
Lemon Grove, California
Table 1: Number leaving ICE detention
from this facility
During the most recent 12 month period for which data are available, a total of 21 detainees housed
at the Southwest Key Lemon Grove left that facility because they were deported, were released under
supervision while their cases were being decided, or left ICE detention for one of a variety of other reasons.
This is a special facility for housing juveniles.
Use of this facility was handled by the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR),
Division of Unaccompanied Children's Services, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Those individuals who departed from this facility because they were leaving ICE detention made up 84 percent of
the 25 detainees housed at this facility during the last 12 months.
This report focuses on the reasons these individuals left ICE detention.
Sometimes this report speaks of these individuals as those "exiting" ICE detention, or simply as "exits."
The other 16 percent remained in ICE detention but were transferred from the Southwest Key Lemon Grove to other facilities.
This report covers those who left ICE custody.
It excludes individuals transferred to other ICE facilities.
For more information on this facility, including individuals that were transferred, see additional TRAC reports in this series.
This report series is based upon analyses conducted by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC)
at Syracuse University of 3.4 million government records tracking each individual who passed through an
ICE detention facility during the past decade.
The most recent 12 month period for which comprehensive data are available is for April 2007 through
March 2008. See About the Data.
How This Facility Ranks Nationally
Rankings on the number leaving ICE detention. The Southwest Key Lemon Grove was one of 1,528 facilities that were used to
house immigration detainees during the last decade, and one of 654 facilities
nationwide that housed ICE detainees during the most recent 12 month period. Of
these 654, there were 324 facilities that had at least 10 individuals who were deported or released.
Excluding those facilities with fewer than 10 exits, the
Southwest Key Lemon Grove last year ranked in the top 85 percent nationwide in
the number of individuals leaving ICE detention.
This means that 85 percent of the locations contributed the same or a
larger numbers of exits, while 15
percent had a smaller number. See Table 1.
Deportations. Nationally, the most common reason that a detainee left ICE detention was that they were deported from the United States.
During the most recent 12 month period for which comprehensive data are available, nationwide 81 percent
of those leaving ICE detention were deported or "voluntarily" departed.
By way of comparison, a lower percentage of detainees (14 percent) left the country from the Southwest Key Lemon Grove because
they were formally deported, or left under the so-called "voluntary departure" procedure.
Trends in the Number of Detainees Deported or Released
Trends in the number leaving ICE detention. During the April 2006-March 2007 period the Southwest Key Lemon Grove
processed no deportations or other releases as compared with 21 last year.
Figure 1: Month-by-month number of detainees leaving this facility
Longer term exit trends. Greater detail on these long-term trends for those leaving
ICE detention from the Southwest Key Lemon Grove are displayed in Figure 1.
Here the month-by-month number of exits are graphed against the backdrop of the total detainees
leaving the custody of this facility.
Exits are displayed with darker shading while those transferred appear with lighter shading.
0 |
0 |
- |
0 |
0 |
- |
0 |
0 |
- |
0 |
0 |
- |
0 |
0 |
- |
0 |
0 |
- |
0 |
0 |
- |
0 |
0 |
- |
0 |
0 |
- |
50 |
42 |
84 % |
Table 2: Number of detainees leaving
this facility over the last decade
Exit trends are also summarized by fiscal year in Table 2.
Year-by-year figures for the Southwest Key Lemon Grove are given for the total number of detainees as
compared with those leaving ICE detention from the facility.
The percent of detainees that left ICE detention is also given.
(As mentioned above, the remaining detainees were transferred to another ICE detention facility.)
Because data for all twelve months of the most recent fiscal year are not yet available, the
FY 2008 numbers (October 2007 through September 2008) are estimated based upon reporting for the first six months.
Were Detained Individuals from the Local Area?
Information on the place of arrest was not included in the available data ICE released.
However, we can examine whether the Southwest Key Lemon Grove was the first ICE facility in which
these detainees were held.
According to ICE records, for the majority (62 percent) of these detainees, the Southwest Key Lemon Grove
was the first place they were sent when they were detained by ICE.
The remaining 38 percent had been
transferred in from another ICE detention facility.
We can also look at how quickly they arrived at this facility after they were first detained.
A total of 100 percent arrived at the Southwest Key Lemon Grove at some point
during the very first day they were detained by ICE.
There was considerable variability among detainees in the number of detention facilities
they had been held in before they were finally deported or released from this facility.
All detainees either entered and left this one facility, or had spent time at one additional
ICE facility before their transfer to the Southwest Key Lemon Grove.
These figures again are based on an analysis of the most recent 12 months for which data are available.
For the United States as a whole, last year the typical detainee stayed in two
different ICE detention facilities before being deported or released - half stayed
in 2 or fewer facilities, and half stayed in 2 or more.
The average number of ICE facilities detainees moved through was 1.9.
Detainees at the Southwest Key Lemon Grove on average had stayed at somewhat fewer (1.4) ICE facilities.
13 |
62 % |
5 % |
4 |
19 % |
0 % |
3 |
14 % |
10 % |
1 |
5 % |
2 % |
0 |
. |
8 % |
0 |
. |
72 % |
0 |
. |
0 % |
0 |
. |
0 % |
0 |
. |
3 % |
0 |
. |
1 % |
21 |
100 % |
100 % |
Table 3: Reasons individuals left ICE detention during the last 12 months
Orders.
The issuance of an order to release the detainee was the most common reason why individuals were
recorded as leaving ICE detention from this facility.
Under an "order of recognizance" an individual is released with reporting conditions while in deportation proceedings and
awaiting a final decision.
A second type of order ("order of supervision") releases an individual after a final order of removal.
Here an individual is released because ICE has not met the time limits the law imposes for deporting the individual.
There were 13 (62 percent) who left the Southwest Key Lemon Grove detention for these reasons: 13 with orders
of recognizance, and none with an order of supervision.
Parole.
ICE also has discretionary authority to "parole" individuals and give them
temporary entry into the country, often on humanitarian grounds.
Individuals with serious medical conditions, pregnant women, and certain juveniles are among the
categories considered.
Other categories are individuals who will serve as witnesses in judicial or administrative proceedings,
and individuals whose parole is considered by ICE in the "public interest."
There were a total of 4 individuals (19 percent) who were paroled from this facility.
Voluntary departure.
Under some circumstances, detainees are allowed to take "voluntary departure."
As with deportation, under voluntary departure a person must leave the country.
However, unlike formal deportation where the individual is barred by law from reentering this country permanently
or for a period of years, under voluntary departure the individual is not legally barred from reentry.
An additional 3 detainees (14 percent) left the Southwest Key Lemon Grove last year as voluntary departures.
No legitimate grounds to deport.
Sometimes individuals left ICE detention because they "won" their case.
Typically this occurs when an Immigration Judge orders the deportation proceedings ICE has
filed against them "terminated" (dismissed) and the judge's order after any appeals
becomes final.
Analysis of the latest 12 months of data show that one individual was released from detention by the Southwest Key Lemon Grove
because a determination was made that there were no grounds
to deport the individual and thus ICE had to release him or her from custody.
Escape and death. Nationally, there were 92 individuals who escaped ICE detention during the latest 12 month period for
which data are available, and 8 individuals were recorded as having died in detention.
No one was recorded by the Southwest Key Lemon Grove as either escaping or dying last year.
Over the past decade, there was also no record of anyone who died or escaped from this facility.
As shown in Table 3, no one was recorded as leaving the Southwest Key Lemon Grove during the past 12 months for the following
reasons:
Bonded out, Deported/Removed, U.S. Marshal or other agency and Withdrawal. See "Reasons for Leaving ICE Detention" for a description of these categories.
Figure 2: Reasons individuals left ICE detention
Comparing Release Reasons Against The National Picture
In many respects release reasons for the Southwest Key Lemon Grove departed from the national picture.
No one left because they were deported from this facility, while for the U.S.
as a whole 72 percent left for this reason.
A slightly higher proportion (14 percent) left this facility as voluntary departures than
was true nationally (10 percent).
In addition, differences were seen for detainees released on orders of recognizance or supervision (62
versus 5 percent), for those paroled (19
versus 0 percent), and individuals released on bond (none versus 8 percent).
The facility's percentages fell within 3 percentage points of the national figures for all other categories.
Nationalities
Which nationalities predominate? Last year in the United States, individuals from Mexico comprised the largest number
of those leaving ICE detention. Some 53.6 percent of all detainees recorded Mexico as their country of origin.
The Southwest Key Lemon Grove had a much smaller proportion of detainees from Mexico - 24 percent among their exits.
Detainees from Mexico were not the largest single nationality group among those leaving detention from the facility.
21 |
3 |
14.2 % |
7 |
0 |
0.0 % |
5 |
3 |
60.0 % |
4 |
0 |
0.0 % |
2 |
0 |
0.0 % |
1 |
0 |
0.0 % |
1 |
0 |
0.0 % |
1 |
0 |
0.0 % |
Table 4: Numbers leaving ICE detention by nationality
during the last 12 months
In descending order,
the top nationalities that made up those leaving ICE detention from the Southwest Key Lemon Grove last year were:
El Salvador (33%)
, Mexico (24%), Guatemala (19%), Uruguay (10%), Armenia (5%), Ecuador (5%) and Honduras (5%).
This compared to the United States as a whole where the other top five nationalities after
Mexico were Honduras (11.0%), Guatemala (10.0%), El Salvador (8.4%) and Dominican Republic (1.6%).
Figure 3: Nationality of those
leaving ICE detention
Deportations and voluntary departures by nationality.
Within the nationalities that made up those listed in Table 4 with more than one individual, the
proportion deported or voluntarily departing
varied from 0 percent to 60 percent.
As mentioned above, this compares with 14 percent for all detainees.
With the highest rate of 60 percent were detainees from Mexico where 5 individuals were deported or took voluntary departure.
More than one country was tied with the lowest rate, where detainees were deported or took voluntary departure.