Detainees Leaving ICE Detention from the
Omaha Field Office Holding Facility
Omaha, Nebraska
Detainees Deported or Released Number last 12 months 469 Out of total detained 777 Facility ranking on detainees top 26 %
Table 1: Number leaving ICE detention
from this facilityDuring the most recent 12 month period for which data are available, a total of 469 detainees housed at the Omaha Field Office Holding 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 60 percent of the 777 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 Omaha Field Office Holding 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 Omaha Field Office Holding 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 Omaha Field Office Holding Facility last year ranked in the top 26 percent nationwide in the number of individuals leaving ICE detention. This means that 26 percent of the locations contributed the same or a larger numbers of exits, while 74 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 (96 percent) left the country from the Omaha Field Office Holding 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 Omaha Field Office Holding Facility was the first ICE facility in which these detainees were held. According to ICE records, for a few (3 percent) of these detainees, the Omaha Field Office Holding Facility was the first place they were sent when they were detained by ICE. The remaining 97 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 3 percent arrived at the Omaha Field Office Holding 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 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 Omaha Field Office Holding Facility on average had stayed at somewhat more (2.5) ICE facilities.
Reason Left ICE Facility Profile U.S Profile Number Percent Percent Deported/Removed 441 94.0 % 55.3 % Orders of Recognizance or Supervision 13 2.7 % 19.8 % Voluntary departure 11 2.3 % 0.9 % Alternative ATD custody 1 0.2 % 0.1 % Bonded out 1 0.2 % 11.0 % Prosecutorial Discretion 1 0.2 % 1.0 % U.S. Marshal or Other Agency 1 0.2 % 4.5 % Died 0 . 0.0 % Escaped 0 . 0.0 % Release to ORR 0 . 0.1 % Paroled 0 . 5.2 % Proceedings Terminated 0 . 1.3 % Withdrawal 0 . 0.2 % Total 469 100.0 % 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 Omaha Field Office Holding Facility was that they were deported. A total of 441 individuals (94 percent) were deported or removed from the Omaha Field Office Holding 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.)
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 13 (3 percent) who left the Omaha Field Office Holding Facility detention for these reasons: 6 with orders of recognizance, and 7 with orders of supervision.
Voluntary departure. Under some circumstances, detainees are allowed to take "voluntary departures" or "voluntary returns." 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. An additional 11 detainees (2 percent) left the Omaha Field Office Holding Facility last year as voluntary departures and voluntary returns.
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 Omaha Field Office Holding Facility as either escaping or dying last year.
As shown in Table 3, no one was recorded as leaving the Omaha Field Office Holding Facility during the past 12 months for the following reasons: Release to ORR, Paroled, Proceedings Terminated 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 Omaha Field Office Holding Facility departed from the national picture. It was the case that a higher proportion left because they were deported from this facility (94 percent) than was true for the U.S. as a whole (55 percent).
In addition, differences were seen for detainees released on orders of recognizance or supervision (3 versus 20 percent), individuals released on bond (0 versus 11 percent), those released to the U.S. Marshal or other agency (0 versus 5 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 Omaha Field Office Holding Facility had a much larger proportion of detainees from Mexico - 97 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 Omaha Field Office Holding Facility last year were: Bosnia-Herzegovina (1%), Guatemala (1%), El Salvador (0%), China, Peoples Republic Of (0%), Honduras (0%), Philippines (0%), South Sudan (0%), United Kingdom (0%) and Venezuela (0%).
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 100 percent. As mentioned above, this compares with 96 percent for all detainees.
Nationalities Ranked in Top 10 Left ICE Detention Total Deported/
Voluntary
DeparturePercent - ALL 469 452 96.3 % 1 Mexico 455 447 98.2 % 2 Bosnia-Herzegovina 3 3 100.0 % Guatemala 3 0 0.0 % 4 El Salvador 2 0 0.0 % 5 China, Peoples Republic Of 1 1 100.0 % Honduras 1 0 0.0 % Philippines 1 0 0.0 % South Sudan 1 0 0.0 % United Kingdom 1 1 100.0 % Venezuela 1 0 0.0 %
Table 4: Numbers leaving ICE detention by nationality
during the last 12 months
With the highest rate of 100 percent were detainees from Bosnia-Herzegovina where all individuals were deported or took voluntary departure. More than one country was tied with the lowest rate, where detainees were deported or took voluntary departure.
