Detainees Leaving ICE Detention from the
Washington Field Office Holding Facility
Fairfax, Virginia

Detainees Deported or Released
Number last 12 months 254
Out of total detained 545
 
Percent change:
from previous 12 months 452 %
from FY 2005 -
from FY 2000 -
 
Facility ranking on detainees top 41 %

Table 1: Number leaving ICE detention
from this facility

During the most recent 12 month period for which data are available, a total of 254 detainees housed at the Washington Field Office Holding Facility 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 ICE holding area or staging location that under current ICE detention standards is allowed to temporarily house aliens for up to 12 or 16 hours. These types of units generally have no sleeping quarters or shower facilities.

Those individuals who departed from this facility because they were leaving ICE detention made up 47 percent of the 545 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 53 percent remained in ICE detention but were transferred from the Washington Field Office Holding Facility 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 Washington Field Office Holding Facility 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 Washington Field Office Holding Facility last year ranked in the top 41 percent nationwide in the number of individuals leaving ICE detention. This means that 41 percent of the locations contributed the same or a larger numbers of exits, while 59 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 (17 percent) left the country from the Washington Field Office Holding Facility 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. When deportations and other releases during the April 2007-March 2008 period were compared with those in the previous 12 months, the Washington Field Office Holding Facility numbers were sharply up by 452 percent. During the April 2006-March 2007 period the facility processed 46 "exits" as compared with 254 last year.

Bar chart of fymondt

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 Washington Field Office Holding Facility 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.

Fiscal Year ICE Detainees
Total Exits Percent
1999 0 0 -
2000 0 0 -
2001 0 0 -
2002 0 0 -
2003 0 0 -
2004 0 0 -
2005 0 0 -
2006 128 25 20 %
2007 169 61 36 %
2008 (est) 1,180 560 47 %

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 Washington Field Office Holding Facility 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 Washington Field Office Holding Facility was the first ICE facility in which these detainees were held. According to ICE records, for the vast majority (87 percent) of these detainees, the Washington Field Office Holding Facility was the first place they were sent when they were detained by ICE. The remaining 13 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 88 percent arrived at the Washington Field Office Holding Facility 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. The number of facilities ranged as high as 4 separate locations for some detainees. 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 Washington Field Office Holding Facility on average had stayed at somewhat fewer (1.2) ICE facilities.

Reason Left ICE Facility Profile U.S Profile
Number Percent Percent
Orders of Recognizance or Supervision 184 72 % 5 %
Deported/Removed 40 16 % 72 %
U.S. Marshal or Other Agency 14 6 % 3 %
Bonded out 9 4 % 8 %
Paroled 3 1 % 0 %
Proceedings Terminated 2 1 % 2 %
Voluntary departure 2 1 % 10 %
Died 0 . 0 %
Escaped 0 . 0 %
Withdrawal 0 . 1 %
Total 254 100 % 100 %

Table 3: Reasons individuals left ICE detention during the last 12 months

Why Did Detainees Leave ICE Detention?

ICE records one of twenty-three reasons a detainee left ICE detention. As shown in Table 3, these reasons fall into ten general categories -- from leaving because one is deported or removed, to leaving because one escaped or the individual died while in custody.

Deportation. As mentioned earlier, while nationally the most common reason that a detainee left ICE detention was that they were deported from this country, this was not the top reason at this facility. At the Washington Field Office Holding Facility only 40 individuals (16 percent) were deported or removed during the most recent 12 month period for which data are available. (ICE data did not distinguish between deportations and removals, and the terms are used interchangeably in this report.)

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 184 (72 percent) who left the Washington Field Office Holding Facility detention for these reasons: 154 with orders of recognizance, and 30 with orders of supervision.

Transferred to criminal custody. A total of 14 individuals (6 percent) left this facility last year because they were turned over to U.S. Marshals or to some other government agency. This typically occurs because there is an outstanding criminal case against the individual, or the individual is needed as a material witness in a criminal case.

Bonded out. A group of individuals (9 or 4 percent) were also "bonded out." This generally covers situations where the individual posts a bond and is released while awaiting a decision on their deportation (removal) case. The amount of the bond is set by ICE, or by an Immigration Judge. Many individuals are not eligible to be released because their continued detention is considered mandatory under provisions in the immigration laws.

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 3 individuals (1 percent) who were paroled from this facility.

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 a total of 2 individuals, or 1 percent were released from detention by the Washington Field Office Holding Facility because a determination was made that there were no grounds to deport the individuals and thus ICE had to release them from custody.

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 2 detainees (1 percent) left the Washington Field Office Holding Facility last year as voluntary departures.

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 Washington Field Office Holding Facility 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 Washington Field Office Holding Facility during the past 12 months for the following reason: Withdrawal. See "Reasons for Leaving ICE Detention" for a description of this category.

Pie chart of release_grp

Figure 2: Reasons individuals left ICE detention

Comparing Release Reasons Against The National Picture

In many respects release reasons for the Washington Field Office Holding Facility departed from the national picture. It was the case that a lower proportion left because they were deported from this facility (16 percent) than was true for the U.S. as a whole (72 percent). A lower proportion (1 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 (72 versus 5 percent), and individuals released on bond (4 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 Washington Field Office Holding Facility 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.

Nationalities Ranked in Top 10 Left ICE Detention
Total Deported/
Voluntary
Departure
Percent
- ALL 254 42 16.5 %
1 El Salvador 77 10 12.9 %
2 Mexico 61 19 31.1 %
3 Honduras 39 2 5.1 %
4 Guatemala 29 3 10.3 %
5 Bolivia 5 0 0.0 %
6 China 3 0 0.0 %
Ghana 3 0 0.0 %
Nicaragua 3 2 66.6 %
Pakistan 3 0 0.0 %
Peru 3 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 Washington Field Office Holding Facility last year were: El Salvador (30%) , Mexico (24%), Honduras (15%), Guatemala (11%) and Bolivia (2%). 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%).

Pie chart of nat

Figure 3: Nationality of those
leaving ICE detention

For the frequency for each of the other nationalities among those leaving ICE detention from the Washington Field Office Holding Facility last year see Table 4.

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 67 percent. As mentioned above, this compares with 17 percent for all detainees.

With the highest rate of 67 percent were detainees from Nicaragua where 3 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.

TRAC Copyright
Copyright 2010, TRAC Reports, Inc.

TRAC Immigration Web Site