Detainees Leaving ICE Detention from the
Alexandria Staging Facility
Alexandria, Louisiana
Detainees Deported or Released Number last 12 months 12,043 Out of total detained 16,758 Facility ranking on detainees top 2 %
Table 1: Number leaving ICE detention
from this facilityDuring the most recent 12 month period for which data are available, a total of 12,043 detainees housed at the Alexandria Staging Facility 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 ICE holding area or staging location that under current ICE detention standards is allowed to temporarily house aliens for up to 12 or 16 hours. These types of units generally have no sleeping quarters or shower facilities.
Those individuals who departed from this facility because they were leaving ICE detention made up 72 percent of the 16,758 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 Alexandria Staging Facility 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 Alexandria Staging Facility 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 Alexandria Staging Facility last year ranked in the top 2 percent nationwide in the number of individuals leaving ICE detention. This means that 2 percent of the locations contributed the same or a larger numbers of exits, while 98 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 higher percentage of detainees (100 percent) left the country from the Alexandria Staging Facility 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 Alexandria Staging Facility was the first ICE facility in which these detainees were held. According to ICE records, for a few (5) of these detainees, the Alexandria Staging Facility was the first place they were sent when they were detained by ICE. Virtually all 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 9 arrived at the Alexandria Staging Facility 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 12 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 Alexandria Staging Facility on average had stayed at somewhat more (3.4) ICE facilities.
Reason Left ICE Facility Profile U.S Profile Number Percent Percent Deported/Removed 12,042 99.9 % 55.3 % Voluntary departure 1 0.0 % 0.9 % Alternative ATD custody 0 . 0.1 % Bonded out 0 . 11.0 % Died 0 . 0.0 % Escaped 0 . 0.0 % Orders of Recognizance or Supervision 0 . 19.8 % Release to ORR 0 . 0.1 % Paroled 0 . 5.2 % Prosecutorial Discretion 0 . 1.0 % Proceedings Terminated 0 . 1.3 % U.S. Marshal or Other Agency 0 . 4.5 % Withdrawal 0 . 0.2 % Total 12,043 100.0 % 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, the most common reason detainees left the Alexandria Staging Facility was that they were deported. A total of 12,042 individuals (100 percent) were deported or removed from the Alexandria Staging Facility 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.)
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 Alexandria Staging Facility as either escaping or dying last year.
As shown in Table 3, no one was recorded as leaving the Alexandria Staging Facility during the past 12 months for the following reasons: Alternative ATD custody, Bonded Out, Order of recognizance, Release to ORR, Paroled, Prosecutorial Discretion, Proceedings Terminated, U.S. Marshals or other agency 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 Alexandria Staging Facility departed from the national picture. It was the case that a higher proportion left because they were deported from this facility (100 percent) than was true for the U.S. as a whole (55 percent).
In addition, differences were seen for individuals released on bond (none versus 11 percent), detainees released on orders of recognizance or supervision (none versus 20 percent), for those paroled (none versus 5 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 Alexandria Staging Facility had a much smaller proportion of detainees from Mexico - 14 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 Alexandria Staging Facility last year were: El Salvador (23%) , Honduras (17%), Guatemala (17%), Mexico (14%) and Ecuador (7%).
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 Alexandria Staging Facility last year see Table 4.
Nationalities Ranked in Top 10 Left ICE Detention Total Deported/
Voluntary
DeparturePercent - ALL 12,043 12,043 100.0 % 1 El Salvador 2,812 2,812 100.0 % 2 Honduras 2,088 2,088 100.0 % 3 Guatemala 2,047 2,047 100.0 % 4 Mexico 1,644 1,644 100.0 % 5 Ecuador 807 807 100.0 % 6 Dominican Republic 706 706 100.0 % 7 Colombia 695 695 100.0 % 8 Nicaragua 611 611 100.0 % 9 Jamaica 519 519 100.0 % 10 Haiti 42 42 100.0 %
Table 4: Numbers leaving ICE detention by nationality
during the last 12 months
