Detainees Leaving ICE Detention from the
Montgomery County Jail
Conroe, Texas
Detainees Deported or Released Number last 12 months 4,341 Out of total detained 5,332 Facility ranking on detainees top 6 %
Table 1: Number leaving ICE detention
from this facilityDuring the most recent 12 month period for which data are available, a total of 4,341 detainees housed at the Montgomery County Jail 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. While the facility is government owned, it is operated by the The GEO Group, Inc. that was in the business of providing detention services for housing federal detainees.
Those individuals who departed from this facility because they were leaving ICE detention made up 81 percent of the 5,332 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 Montgomery County Jail 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 Montgomery County Jail 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 Montgomery County Jail last year ranked in the top 6 percent nationwide in the number of individuals leaving ICE detention. This means that 6 percent of the locations contributed the same or a larger numbers of exits, while 94 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 (66 percent) left the country from the Montgomery County Jail 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 Montgomery County Jail was the first ICE facility in which these detainees were held. According to ICE records, for a few (1) of these detainees, the Montgomery County Jail 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 2 arrived at the Montgomery County Jail 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 6 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 Montgomery County Jail on average had stayed at somewhat more (2.8) ICE facilities.
Reason Left ICE Facility Profile U.S Profile Number Percent Percent Deported/Removed 2,869 66.0 % 55.3 % Bonded out 1,114 25.6 % 11.0 % Proceedings Terminated 168 3.8 % 1.3 % U.S. Marshal or Other Agency 117 2.6 % 4.5 % Orders of Recognizance or Supervision 39 0.8 % 19.8 % Prosecutorial Discretion 27 0.6 % 1.0 % Paroled 6 0.1 % 5.2 % Voluntary departure 1 0.0 % 0.9 % Alternative ATD custody 0 . 0.1 % Died 0 . 0.0 % Escaped 0 . 0.0 % Release to ORR 0 . 0.1 % Withdrawal 0 . 0.2 % Total 4,341 100.0 % 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 Montgomery County Jail was that they were deported. A total of 2,869 individuals (66 percent) were deported or removed from the Montgomery County Jail 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.)
Bonded out. A group of individuals (1,114 or 26 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.
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 168 individuals, or 4 percent were released from detention by the Montgomery County Jail because a determination was made that there were no grounds to deport the individuals and thus ICE had to release them from custody.
Transferred to criminal custody. A total of 117 individuals (3 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 39 (1 percent) who left the Montgomery County Jail detention for these reasons: 21 with orders of recognizance, and 18 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 27 individuals (1 percent) were released under these PD programs.
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 Montgomery County Jail as either escaping or dying last year.
As shown in Table 3, no one was recorded as leaving the Montgomery County Jail during the past 12 months for the following reasons: Alternative ATD custody, Release to ORR 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 Montgomery County Jail departed from the national picture. It was the case that a higher proportion left because they were deported from this facility (66 percent) than was true for the U.S. as a whole (55 percent).
In addition, differences were seen for individuals released on bond (26 versus 11 percent), detainees released on orders of recognizance or supervision (1 versus 20 percent), and for those paroled (0 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 Montgomery County Jail had a smaller proportion of detainees from Mexico - 41 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 Montgomery County Jail last year were: Honduras (23%), Guatemala (19%), El Salvador (14%) and Ecuador (1%).
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 among those leaving ICE detention from the Montgomery County Jail 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 85 percent. As mentioned above, this compares with 66 percent for all detainees.
Nationalities Ranked in Top 10 Left ICE Detention Total Deported/
Voluntary
DeparturePercent - ALL 4,341 2,870 66.1 % 1 Mexico 1,795 1,251 69.6 % 2 Honduras 1,006 826 82.1 % 3 Guatemala 843 716 84.9 % 4 El Salvador 613 63 10.2 % 5 Ecuador 41 7 17.0 % 6 Nicaragua 25 0 0.0 % 7 Colombia 16 6 37.5 % 8 Peru 2 1 50.0 %
Table 4: Numbers leaving ICE detention by nationality
during the last 12 months
With the highest rate of 85 percent were detainees from Guatemala where 843 individuals were deported or took voluntary departure. At the other end of the range were detainees from Nicaragua, where none ended up deported or were allowed voluntary departure.
