Detainees Leaving ICE Detention from the
Harlingen Medical Center
Harlingen, Texas
Detainees Deported or Released Number last 12 months 11 Out of total detained 139 Facility ranking on detainees top 97 %
Table 1: Number leaving ICE detention
from this facilityDuring the most recent 12 month period for which data are available, a total of 11 detainees housed at the Harlingen Medical 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.
Those individuals who departed from this facility because they were leaving ICE detention made up 8 percent of the 139 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 Harlingen Medical 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 Harlingen Medical 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 Harlingen Medical Center last year ranked in the top 97 percent nationwide in the number of individuals leaving ICE detention. This means that 97 percent of the locations contributed the same or a larger numbers of exits, while 3 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 Harlingen Medical 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 Harlingen Medical Center was the first ICE facility in which these detainees were held. According to ICE records, for the majority (64 percent) of these detainees, the Harlingen Medical Center was the first place they were sent when they were detained by ICE. The remaining 36 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. Again, a total of 64 percent arrived at the Harlingen Medical 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 3 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 Harlingen Medical Center on average had stayed at somewhat fewer (1.5) ICE facilities.
Reason Left ICE Facility Profile U.S Profile Number Percent Percent Orders of Recognizance or Supervision 9 81.8 % 19.8 % Paroled 1 9.0 % 5.2 % U.S. Marshal or Other Agency 1 9.0 % 4.5 % Alternative ATD custody 0 . 0.1 % Bonded out 0 . 11.0 % Deported/Removed 0 . 55.3 % Died 0 . 0.0 % Escaped 0 . 0.0 % Release to ORR 0 . 0.1 % Prosecutorial Discretion 0 . 1.0 % Proceedings Terminated 0 . 1.3 % Voluntary departure 0 . 0.9 % Withdrawal 0 . 0.2 % Total 11 100.0 % 100.0 %
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 9 (82 percent) who left the Harlingen Medical Center detention for these reasons: 8 with orders of recognizance, and one 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." One individual was paroled from this facility.
Transferred to criminal custody. A total of 1 individuals (9 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.
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 Harlingen Medical Center as either escaping or dying last year.
As shown in Table 3, no one was recorded as leaving the Harlingen Medical Center during the past 12 months for the following reasons: Alternative ATD custody, Bonded Out, Removed, Release to ORR, Prosecutorial Discretion, Proceedings Terminated, 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 Harlingen Medical 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 detainees released on orders of recognizance or supervision (82 versus 20 percent), for those paroled (9 versus 5 percent), those released to the U.S. Marshal or other agency (9 versus 5 percent), and individuals released on bond (none versus 11 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 Harlingen Medical Center had a much smaller proportion of detainees from Mexico - 27 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 top nationalities that made up those leaving ICE detention from the Harlingen Medical Center last year were: El Salvador (27%) , Guatemala (27%), Mexico (27%), Brazil (9%) and Cuba (9%).
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%).
