Detainees Leaving ICE Detention from the
Worcester County Detention Center
Snow Hill, Maryland

Detainees Deported or Released
Number last 12 months 380
Out of total detained 650
Facility ranking on detainees top 30 %

Table 1: Number leaving ICE detention
from this facility

During the most recent 12 month period for which data are available, a total of 380 detainees housed at the Worcester County Detention Center 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. The use of this facility for the temporary housing of federal immigration detainees was arranged through an intergovernmental service agreement (IGSA) under which payments by ICE to another governmental agency are made for housing federal detainees. Additional information about the arrangement, including whether a private company may operate the facility for the government, was not available at the time this report was posted.

Those individuals who departed from this facility because they were leaving ICE detention made up 58 percent of the 650 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 others remained in ICE detention but were transferred from the Worcester County Detention Center 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 1.7 million government records tracking each individual who passed through an ICE detention facility during fiscal year 2015. This most recent 12 month period for which comprehensive data are available covers October 2014 through September 2015. See About the Data.

How This Facility Ranks Nationally

Rankings on the number leaving ICE detention. The Worcester County Detention Center was one of 637 facilities nationwide that housed ICE detainees during the most recent 12 month period. Of these 637, there were 358 that had at least 10 individuals who were deported or released. Excluding those facilities with fewer than 10 exits, the Worcester County Detention Center last year ranked in the top 30 percent nationwide in the number of individuals leaving ICE detention. This means that 30 percent of the locations contributed the same or a larger numbers of exits, while 70 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 56.3 percent of those leaving ICE detention were deported or "voluntarily" departed. By way of comparison, a lower percentage of detainees (25 percent) left the country from the Worcester County Detention Center because they were formally deported, or left under the so-called "voluntary departure" procedure.

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 Worcester County Detention Center was the first ICE facility in which these detainees were held. According to ICE records, for a substantial proportion (30 percent) of these detainees, the Worcester County Detention Center was the first place they were sent when they were detained by ICE. The remaining 70 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 92 percent arrived at the Worcester County Detention Center 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 average number of ICE facilities detainees moved through was 1.8. Detainees at the Worcester County Detention Center on average had stayed at the same number of facilities (1.8) ICE facilities.

Reason Left ICE Facility Profile U.S Profile
Number Percent Percent
Bonded out 151 39.7 % 11.0 %
Deported/Removed 95 25.0 % 55.3 %
U.S. Marshal or Other Agency 63 16.5 % 4.5 %
Orders of Recognizance or Supervision 35 9.2 % 19.8 %
Proceedings Terminated 26 6.8 % 1.3 %
Prosecutorial Discretion 7 1.8 % 1.0 %
Paroled 1 0.2 % 5.2 %
Voluntary departure 1 0.2 % 0.9 %
Withdrawal 1 0.2 % 0.2 %
Alternative ATD custody 0 . 0.1 %
Died 0 . 0.0 %
Escaped 0 . 0.0 %
Release to ORR 0 . 0.1 %
Total 380 100.0 % 100.0 %

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

Why Did Detainees Leave ICE Detention?

ICE records one of 29 reasons a detainee left ICE detention. As shown in Table 3, these reasons fall into 13 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 Worcester County Detention Center only 95 individuals (25 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.)

Bonded out. The most common reason a person left ICE detention from this facility was that they were released after posting a bond. A total of 151 individuals (40 percent) left the Worcester County Detention Center because they were "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.

Transferred to criminal custody. A total of 63 individuals (17 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.

Orders. Orders are additional mechanisms that are sometimes used to release a person while their case is pending, or awaiting removal. 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 35 (9 percent) who left the Worcester County Detention Center detention for these reasons: 6 with orders of recognizance, and 29 with orders of supervision.

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 26 individuals, or 7 percent were released from detention by the Worcester County Detention Center because a determination was made that there were no grounds to deport the individuals and thus ICE had to release them from custody.

Prosecutorial discretion. The Department of Homeland Security sets immigration enforcement priorities and guidance on the exercise of prosecutorial discretion (PD), including special programs on deferred action for childhood arrivals. To focus its limited resources on higher priority targets, individuals that don't fall into these high priority categories may -- through the exercise of prosecutorial discretion -- be released from custody and any proposed deportation actions deferred. A total of 7 individuals (2 percent) were released under these PD programs.

Escape and death. Nationally, there were 65 individuals who escaped ICE detention during the latest 12 month period for which data are available, and 6 individuals were recorded as having died in detention. No one was recorded by the Worcester County Detention Center as either escaping or dying last year.

As shown in Table 3, no one was recorded as leaving the Worcester County Detention Center during the past 12 months for the following reasons: Alternative ATD custody and Release to ORR. See "Reasons for Leaving ICE Detention" for a description of these categories.

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 Worcester County Detention Center departed from the national picture. It was the case that a lower proportion left because they were deported from this facility (25 percent) than was true for the U.S. as a whole (55 percent).

In addition, differences were seen for individuals released on bond (40 versus 11 percent), those released to the U.S. Marshal or other agency (17 versus 5 percent), detainees released on orders of recognizance or supervision (9 versus 20 percent), persons whose proceedings were terminated (7 versus 1 percent), and for those paroled (0 versus 5 percent).

The facility's percentages fell within 3 percentage points of the national figures for all other categories.

Pie chart of nat

Figure 3: Nationality of those
leaving ICE detention

Nationalities

Which nationalities predominate? Last year in the United States, individuals from Mexico comprised the largest number of those leaving ICE detention. Some 43.4 percent of all detainees recorded Mexico as their country of origin. The Worcester County Detention Center had a much smaller proportion of detainees from Mexico - 33 percent among their exits. Detainees from Mexico were also the largest single nationality group among those leaving detention from the facility.

In descending order, the other top nationalities after Mexico that made up those leaving ICE detention from the Worcester County Detention Center last year were: El Salvador (24%), Guatemala (10%), Honduras (8%) and Jamaica (2%).

This compared to the United States as a whole where the other top five nationalities after Mexico were Guatemala (19%), El Salvador (15%), Honduras (12%) and Ecuador (1%).

For the frequency for each of the other nationalities among those leaving ICE detention from the Worcester County Detention Center 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 25 percent for all detainees.

Nationalities Ranked in Top 10 Left ICE Detention
Total Deported/
Voluntary
Departure
Percent
- ALL 380 96 25.2 %
1 Mexico 127 77 60.6 %
2 El Salvador 92 1 1.0 %
3 Guatemala 38 0 0.0 %
4 Honduras 29 0 0.0 %
5 Jamaica 9 0 0.0 %
6 Sierra Leone 7 0 0.0 %
Vietnam 7 0 0.0 %
8 Peru 6 4 66.6 %
9 Brazil 4 1 25.0 %
Cameroon 4 0 0.0 %
Kenya 4 0 0.0 %
Trinidad And Tobago 4 1 25.0 %

Table 4: Numbers leaving ICE detention by nationality
during the last 12 months

With the highest rate of 67 percent were detainees from Peru where 6 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.

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