Detainees Leaving ICE Detention from the Berks County Family Shelter

Detainees Deported or Released
Number last 12 months	437
Out of total detained	440
Facility ranking on detainees	top 28 %

Table 1: Number leaving ICE detention
from this facility

During the most recent 12 month period for which data are available, a total of 437 detainees housed at the Berks County Family Shelter 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.

Those individuals who departed from this facility because they were leaving ICE detention made up 99 percent of the 440 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 Berks County Family Shelter 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 Berks County Family Shelter 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 Berks County Family Shelter last year ranked in the top 28 percent nationwide in the number of individuals leaving ICE detention. This means that 28 percent of the locations contributed the same or a larger numbers of exits, while 72 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 (11 percent) left the country from the Berks County Family Shelter 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 Berks County Family Shelter was the first ICE facility in which these detainees were held. According to ICE records, for a substantial proportion (46 percent) of these detainees, the Berks County Family Shelter was the first place they were sent when they were detained by ICE. The remaining 54 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 70 percent arrived at the Berks County Family Shelter 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 Berks County Family Shelter on average had stayed at somewhat fewer (1.6) ICE facilities.

Reason Left ICE	Facility Profile		U.S Profile
Reason Left ICE	Number	Percent	Percent
Orders of Recognizance or Supervision	327	74.8 %	19.8 %
Deported/Removed	50	11.4 %	55.3 %
Bonded out	35	8.0 %	11.0 %
Paroled	16	3.6 %	5.2 %
Proceedings Terminated	5	1.1 %	1.3 %
Alternative ATD custody	2	0.4 %	0.1 %
Withdrawal	2	0.4 %	0.2 %
Died	0	.	0.0 %
Escaped	0	.	0.0 %
Release to ORR	0	.	0.1 %
Prosecutorial Discretion	0	.	1.0 %
U.S. Marshal or Other Agency	0	.	4.5 %
Voluntary departure	0	.	0.9 %
Total	437	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 Berks County Family Shelter only 50 individuals (11 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 327 (75 percent) who left the Berks County Family Shelter detention for these reasons: 271 with orders of recognizance, and 56 with orders of supervision.

Bonded out. A group of individuals (35 or 8 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 16 individuals (4 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 5 individuals, or 1 percent were released from detention by the Berks County Family Shelter because a determination was made that there were no grounds to deport the individuals and thus ICE had to release them from custody.

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 Berks County Family Shelter as either escaping or dying last year.

As shown in Table 3, no one was recorded as leaving the Berks County Family Shelter during the past 12 months for the following reasons: Release to ORR, Prosecutorial Discretion, U.S. Marshals or other agency and Voluntary Return. See "Reasons for Leaving ICE Detention" for a description of these categories.

Comparing Release Reasons Against The National Picture

In many respects release reasons for the Berks County Family Shelter departed from the national picture. It was the case that a lower proportion left because they were deported from this facility (11 percent) than was true for the U.S. as a whole (55 percent). No one left as a voluntary departure from this facility, while this was true for 1 percent of all individuals nationally.

In addition, differences were seen for detainees released on orders of recognizance or supervision (75 versus 20 percent), and those released to the U.S. Marshal or other agency (none versus 5 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 43.4 percent of all detainees recorded Mexico as their country of origin. The Berks County Family Shelter had a much smaller proportion of detainees from Mexico - 5 percent among their exits. Detainees from Mexico were not the largest single nationality group among those leaving detention from the facility.

In descending order, the top nationalities that made up those leaving ICE detention from the Berks County Family Shelter last year were: Guatemala (36%) , Honduras (26%), El Salvador (18%), Mexico (5%) and Ethiopia (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 within the top 10 among those leaving ICE detention from the Berks County Family Shelter 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 23 percent. As mentioned above, this compares with 11 percent for all detainees.

Nationalities Ranked in Top 10		Left ICE Detention
Nationalities Ranked in Top 10		Total	Deported/ Voluntary Departure	Percent
-	ALL	437	50	11.4 %
1	Guatemala	157	36	22.9 %
2	Honduras	112	6	5.3 %
3	El Salvador	78	2	2.5 %
4	Mexico	23	1	4.3 %
5	Ethiopia	10	0	0.0 %
6	China, Peoples Republic Of	9	2	22.2 %
7	Brazil	8	0	0.0 %
8	Eritrea	6	0	0.0 %
9	Venezuela	5	0	0.0 %
10	Nigeria	4	0	0.0 %
	Sudan	4	0	0.0 %
	Syria	4	0	0.0 %

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

With the highest rate of 23 percent were detainees from Guatemala where 157 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.