Detainees Leaving ICE Detention from the
Otero County Processing Center
Chaparral, New Mexico
Detainees Deported or Released Number last 12 months 14,520 Out of total detained 16,678 Facility ranking on detainees top 1 %
Table 1: Number leaving ICE detention
from this facilityDuring the most recent 12 month period for which data are available, a total of 14,520 detainees housed at the Otero County Processing Center 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 Management and Training Corporation 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 87 percent of the 16,678 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 Otero County Processing Center 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 Otero County Processing Center 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 Otero County Processing Center last year ranked in the top 1 percent nationwide in the number of individuals leaving ICE detention. This means that 1 percent of the locations contributed the same or a larger numbers of exits, while 99 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 (99 percent) left the country from the Otero County Processing Center 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 Otero County Processing Center was the first ICE facility in which these detainees were held. According to ICE records, for some (12 percent) of these detainees, the Otero County Processing Center was the first place they were sent when they were detained by ICE. The remaining 88 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 24 percent arrived at the Otero County Processing Center 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 10 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 Otero County Processing Center on average had stayed at somewhat more (2.9) ICE facilities.
Reason Left ICE Facility Profile U.S Profile Number Percent Percent Deported/Removed 14,435 99.4 % 55.3 % Orders of Recognizance or Supervision 34 0.2 % 19.8 % Bonded out 27 0.1 % 11.0 % U.S. Marshal or Other Agency 20 0.1 % 4.5 % Prosecutorial Discretion 4 0.0 % 1.0 % Alternative ATD custody 0 . 0.1 % Died 0 . 0.0 % Escaped 0 . 0.0 % Release to ORR 0 . 0.1 % Paroled 0 . 5.2 % Proceedings Terminated 0 . 1.3 % Voluntary departure 0 . 0.9 % Withdrawal 0 . 0.2 % Total 14,520 100.0 % 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 Otero County Processing Center was that they were deported. A total of 14,435 individuals (99 percent) were deported or removed from the Otero County Processing Center 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 Otero County Processing Center as either escaping or dying last year.
As shown in Table 3, no one was recorded as leaving the Otero County Processing Center during the past 12 months for the following reasons: Alternative ATD custody, Release to ORR, Paroled, 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 Otero County Processing Center departed from the national picture. It was the case that a higher proportion left because they were deported from this facility (99 percent) than was true for the U.S. as a whole (55 percent). 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 (0 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 Otero County Processing Center had a much larger proportion of detainees from Mexico - 90 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 Otero County Processing Center last year were: El Salvador (6%), Guatemala (4%), Honduras (0%), Afghanistan (0%) and Azerbaijan (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 93 percent to 100 percent. As mentioned above, this compares with 99 percent for all detainees.
Nationalities Ranked in Top 10 Left ICE Detention Total Deported/
Voluntary
DeparturePercent - ALL 14,520 14,435 99.4 % 1 Mexico 13,028 12,979 99.6 % 2 El Salvador 916 892 97.3 % 3 Guatemala 529 521 98.4 % 4 Honduras 45 42 93.3 % 5 Afghanistan 1 1 100.0 % Azerbaijan 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 Mexico where virtually all individuals were deported or took voluntary departure. At the other end of the range were detainees from Honduras, where 93 percent ended up deported or were allowed voluntary departure.
