Detainees Leaving ICE Detention from the
Polk County Jail
Livingston, Texas
Detainees Deported or Released Number last 12 months 2,056 Out of total detained 3,227 Facility ranking on detainees top 10 %
Table 1: Number leaving ICE detention
from this facilityDuring the most recent 12 month period for which data are available, a total of 2,056 detainees housed at the Polk 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 Community Education Centers 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 64 percent of the 3,227 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 Polk 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 Polk 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 Polk County Jail last year ranked in the top 10 percent nationwide in the number of individuals leaving ICE detention. This means that 10 percent of the locations contributed the same or a larger numbers of exits, while 90 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 (95 percent) left the country from the Polk 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 Polk County Jail was the first ICE facility in which these detainees were held. According to ICE records, for a few (3) of these detainees, the Polk 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 5 arrived at the Polk 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 Polk County Jail on average had stayed at somewhat more (2.9) ICE facilities.
Reason Left ICE Facility Profile U.S Profile Number Percent Percent Deported/Removed 1,955 95.0 % 55.3 % U.S. Marshal or Other Agency 78 3.7 % 4.5 % Orders of Recognizance or Supervision 12 0.5 % 19.8 % Prosecutorial Discretion 9 0.4 % 1.0 % Bonded out 2 0.0 % 11.0 % 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 2,056 100.0 % 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 Polk County Jail was that they were deported. A total of 1,955 individuals (95 percent) were deported or removed from the Polk 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.)
Transferred to criminal custody. A total of 78 individuals (4 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 12 (1 percent) who left the Polk County Jail detention for these reasons: one with an order of recognizance, and 11 with orders of supervision.
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 Polk County Jail as either escaping or dying last year.
As shown in Table 3, no one was recorded as leaving the Polk County Jail 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 Polk County Jail departed from the national picture. It was the case that a higher proportion left because they were deported from this facility (95 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 (1 versus 20 percent), individuals released on bond (0 versus 11 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 Polk County Jail 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 Polk County Jail last year were: El Salvador (72%) , Mexico (14%), Honduras (7%), Guatemala (7%) and Nicaragua (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%).
For the frequency for each of the other nationalities among those leaving ICE detention from the Polk 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 98 percent. As mentioned above, this compares with 95 percent for all detainees.
Nationalities Ranked in Top 10 Left ICE Detention Total Deported/
Voluntary
DeparturePercent - ALL 2,056 1,955 95.0 % 1 El Salvador 1,477 1,454 98.4 % 2 Mexico 290 228 78.6 % 3 Honduras 151 144 95.3 % 4 Guatemala 135 129 95.5 % 5 Nicaragua 2 0 0.0 % 6 Colombia 1 0 0.0 %
Table 4: Numbers leaving ICE detention by nationality
during the last 12 months
With the highest rate of 98 percent were detainees from El Salvador where 1,477 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.
