Detainees Leaving ICE Detention from the
George Bush Intercontinental Airport
Houston, Texas
Detainees Deported or Released Number last 12 months 104 Out of total detained 289 Facility ranking on detainees top 55 %
Table 1: Number leaving ICE detention
from this facilityDuring the most recent 12 month period for which data are available, a total of 104 detainees housed at the George Bush Intercontinental Airport 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 36 percent of the 289 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 George Bush Intercontinental Airport 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 George Bush Intercontinental Airport 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 George Bush Intercontinental Airport last year ranked in the top 55 percent nationwide in the number of individuals leaving ICE detention. This means that 55 percent of the locations contributed the same or a larger numbers of exits, while 45 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 George Bush Intercontinental Airport 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 George Bush Intercontinental Airport was the first ICE facility in which these detainees were held. According to ICE records, for the vast majority (98 percent) of these detainees, the George Bush Intercontinental Airport was the first place they were sent when they were detained by ICE. The remaining 2 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 100 percent arrived at the George Bush Intercontinental Airport 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. All detainees either entered and left this one facility, or had spent time at one additional ICE facility before their transfer to the George Bush Intercontinental Airport. 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 George Bush Intercontinental Airport on average had stayed at somewhat fewer (1.0) ICE facilities.
Reason Left ICE Facility Profile U.S Profile Number Percent Percent Orders of Recognizance or Supervision 102 98.0 % 19.8 % U.S. Marshal or Other Agency 2 1.9 % 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 % Paroled 0 . 5.2 % Prosecutorial Discretion 0 . 1.0 % Proceedings Terminated 0 . 1.3 % Voluntary departure 0 . 0.9 % Withdrawal 0 . 0.2 % Total 104 100.0 % 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 102 (98 percent) who left the George Bush Intercontinental Airport detention for these reasons: 95 with orders of recognizance, and 7 with orders of supervision.
Transferred to criminal custody. A total of 2 individuals (2 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 George Bush Intercontinental Airport as either escaping or dying last year.
As shown in Table 3, no one was recorded as leaving the George Bush Intercontinental Airport during the past 12 months for the following reasons: Alternative ATD custody, Bonded Out, Removed, Release to ORR, Paroled, 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 George Bush Intercontinental Airport 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 (98 versus 20 percent), individuals released on bond (none versus 11 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 George Bush Intercontinental Airport had no detainees from Mexico leave ICE detention.
In descending order, the top nationalities that made up those leaving ICE detention from the George Bush Intercontinental Airport last year were: El Salvador (37%) , Honduras (37%), Guatemala (21%) and Brazil (6%).
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%).
