Detainees Leaving ICE Detention from the Morrison Center

Detainees Deported or Released
Number last 12 months	54
Out of total detained	91
Facility ranking on detainees	top 67 %

Table 1: Number leaving ICE detention
from this facility

During the most recent 12 month period for which data are available, a total of 54 detainees housed at the Morrison Center - Paso Staff Secure 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 facility for housing juveniles.

Those individuals who departed from this facility because they were leaving ICE detention made up 59 percent of the 91 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 Morrison Center - Paso Staff Secure 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 Morrison Center - Paso Staff Secure 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 Morrison Center - Paso Staff Secure last year ranked in the top 67 percent nationwide in the number of individuals leaving ICE detention. This means that 67 percent of the locations contributed the same or a larger numbers of exits, while 33 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 (76 percent) left the country from the Morrison Center - Paso Staff Secure 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 Morrison Center - Paso Staff Secure was the first ICE facility in which these detainees were held. According to ICE records, for some (15 percent) of these detainees, the Morrison Center - Paso Staff Secure was the first place they were sent when they were detained by ICE. The remaining 85 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 61 percent arrived at the Morrison Center - Paso Staff Secure 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 5 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 Morrison Center - Paso Staff Secure on average had stayed at somewhat more (2.4) ICE facilities.

Reason Left ICE	Facility Profile		U.S Profile
Reason Left ICE	Number	Percent	Percent
Voluntary departure	30	55.5 %	0.9 %
Deported/Removed	11	20.3 %	55.3 %
Orders of Recognizance or Supervision	10	18.5 %	19.8 %
Escaped	1	1.8 %	0.0 %
Proceedings Terminated	1	1.8 %	1.3 %
Withdrawal	1	1.8 %	0.2 %
Alternative ATD custody	0	.	0.1 %
Bonded out	0	.	11.0 %
Died	0	.	0.0 %
Release to ORR	0	.	0.1 %
Paroled	0	.	5.2 %
Prosecutorial Discretion	0	.	1.0 %
U.S. Marshal or Other Agency	0	.	4.5 %
Total	54	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, while nationally the most common reason that a detainee left ICE detention was that they were deported from this country, this was not the top reason at this facility. At the Morrison Center - Paso Staff Secure only 11 individuals (20 percent) were deported or removed 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.)

Voluntary departure. Voluntary departure and voluntary return was the most common reason recorded for a detainee to leave detention from this facility. As with deportation, under voluntary departure a person must leave the country. However, unlike formal deportation where the individual is barred by law from reentering this country permanently or for a period of years, under voluntary departure and voluntary return the individual is not legally barred from reentry. A total of 30 detainees (56 percent) left the Morrison Center - Paso Staff Secure last year as voluntary departures and voluntary returns.

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 10 (19 percent) who left the Morrison Center - Paso Staff Secure detention for these reasons: 10 with orders of recognizance, and none with an order of supervision.

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 Morrison Center - Paso Staff Secure 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.

Withdraw entry request. Individuals also leave ICE detention for a variety of additional reasons. One of these is that individuals who have been detained may be allowed to "withdraw" their request to enter the country. If a person withdraws their request, this effectively means they must leave the country. A total of 1 individuals (2 percent) fell into this category. Unlike deportation where the person is legally barred for a period of years and sometimes permanently from coming back to the United States, a person who withdraws their request is not for that reason barred from re-entry into this country.

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 as dying last year at the Morrison Center - Paso Staff Secure, but there was one escape.

As shown in Table 3, no one was recorded as leaving the Morrison Center - Paso Staff Secure during the past 12 months for the following reasons: Alternative ATD custody, Bonded Out, Release to ORR, Paroled, Prosecutorial Discretion and U.S. Marshals or other agency. 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 Morrison Center - Paso Staff Secure departed from the national picture. It was the case that a lower proportion left because they were deported from this facility (20 percent) than was true for the U.S. as a whole (55 percent). A higher proportion (56 percent) left this facility as voluntary departures than was true nationally (1 percent).

In addition, differences were seen for individuals released on bond (none versus 11 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 Morrison Center - Paso Staff Secure had a much larger proportion of detainees from Mexico - 81 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 Morrison Center - Paso Staff Secure last year were: Guatemala (9%) and Honduras (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%).

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 91 percent. As mentioned above, this compares with 76 percent for all detainees.

Nationalities Ranked in Top 10		Left ICE Detention
Nationalities Ranked in Top 10		Total	Deported/ Voluntary Departure	Percent
-	ALL	54	41	75.9 %
1	Mexico	44	40	90.9 %
2	Guatemala	5	0	0.0 %
2	Honduras	5	1	20.0 %

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

With the highest rate of 91 percent were detainees from Mexico where 44 individuals were deported or took voluntary departure. At the other end of the range were detainees from Guatemala, where none ended up deported or were allowed voluntary departure.