Detainees Leaving ICE Detention from the Grand Forks County Correction Center

Detainees Deported or Released
Number last 12 months	41
Out of total detained	403
Facility ranking on detainees	top 72 %

Table 1: Number leaving ICE detention
from this facility

During the most recent 12 month period for which data are available, a total of 41 detainees housed at the Grand Forks County Correction 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 10 percent of the 403 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 Grand Forks County Correction 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 Grand Forks County Correction 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 Grand Forks County Correction Center last year ranked in the top 72 percent nationwide in the number of individuals leaving ICE detention. This means that 72 percent of the locations contributed the same or a larger numbers of exits, while 28 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 (0 percent) left the country from the Grand Forks County Correction 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 Grand Forks County Correction Center was the first ICE facility in which these detainees were held. According to ICE records, for the vast majority (85 percent) of these detainees, the Grand Forks County Correction Center was the first place they were sent when they were detained by ICE. The remaining 15 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 98 percent arrived at the Grand Forks County Correction 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 Grand Forks County Correction Center on average had stayed at somewhat fewer (1.2) ICE facilities.

Reason Left ICE	Facility Profile		U.S Profile
Reason Left ICE	Number	Percent	Percent
Bonded out	23	56.0 %	11.0 %
U.S. Marshal or Other Agency	12	29.2 %	4.5 %
Orders of Recognizance or Supervision	3	7.3 %	19.8 %
Prosecutorial Discretion	2	4.8 %	1.0 %
Proceedings Terminated	1	2.4 %	1.3 %
Alternative ATD custody	0	.	0.1 %
Deported/Removed	0	.	55.3 %
Died	0	.	0.0 %
Escaped	0	.	0.0 %
Release to ORR	0	.	0.1 %
Paroled	0	.	5.2 %
Voluntary departure	0	.	0.9 %
Withdrawal	0	.	0.2 %
Total	41	100.0 %	100.0 %

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

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 23 individuals (56 percent) left the Grand Forks County Correction 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 12 individuals (29 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 3 (7 percent) who left the Grand Forks County Correction Center detention for these reasons: one with an order of recognizance, and 2 with orders of supervision.

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 2 individuals (5 percent) were released under these PD programs.

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 Grand Forks County Correction Center 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 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 Grand Forks County Correction Center as either escaping or dying last year.

As shown in Table 3, no one was recorded as leaving the Grand Forks County Correction Center during the past 12 months for the following reasons: Alternative ATD custody, Removed, Release to ORR, Paroled, Voluntary Return and Withdrawal. 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 Grand Forks County Correction Center departed from the national picture. No one left because they were deported from this facility, while for the U.S. as a whole 55 percent left for this reason. 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 individuals released on bond (56 versus 11 percent), those released to the U.S. Marshal or other agency (29 versus 5 percent), detainees released on orders of recognizance or supervision (7 versus 20 percent), PD (5 versus 1 percent), and for those paroled (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 Grand Forks County Correction Center had a much larger proportion of detainees from Mexico - 76 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 Grand Forks County Correction Center last year were: Guatemala (5%), China, Peoples Republic Of (2%), Iraq (2%), Moldova (2%), Mongolia (2%), Nicaragua (2%), Nigeria (2%), Serbia (2%) and South Korea (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%).

Nationalities Ranked in Top 10		Left ICE Detention
Nationalities Ranked in Top 10		Total	Deported/ Voluntary Departure	Percent
-	ALL	41	0	0.0 %
1	Mexico	31	0	0.0 %
2	Guatemala	2	0	0.0 %
3	China, Peoples Republic Of	1	0	0.0 %
	Iraq	1	0	0.0 %
	Moldova	1	0	0.0 %
	Mongolia	1	0	0.0 %
	Nicaragua	1	0	0.0 %
	Nigeria	1	0	0.0 %
	Serbia	1	0	0.0 %
	South Korea	1	0	0.0 %

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