Detainees Leaving ICE Detention from the
Sandy Pines Hospital
Tequesta, Florida

Detainees Deported or Released
Number last 12 months 16
Out of total detained 26
Facility ranking on detainees top 90 %

Table 1: Number leaving ICE detention
from this facility

During the most recent 12 month period for which data are available, a total of 16 detainees housed at the Sandy Pines Hospital 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.

Those individuals who departed from this facility because they were leaving ICE detention made up 62 percent of the 26 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 Sandy Pines Hospital 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 Sandy Pines Hospital 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 Sandy Pines Hospital last year ranked in the top 90 percent nationwide in the number of individuals leaving ICE detention. This means that 90 percent of the locations contributed the same or a larger numbers of exits, while 10 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 lower percentage of detainees (0 percent) left the country from the Sandy Pines Hospital 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 Sandy Pines Hospital was the first ICE facility in which these detainees were held. According to ICE records, for some (19 percent) of these detainees, the Sandy Pines Hospital was the first place they were sent when they were detained by ICE. The remaining 81 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 19 percent arrived at the Sandy Pines Hospital 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 Sandy Pines Hospital on average had stayed at somewhat more (2.6) ICE facilities.

Reason Left ICE Facility Profile U.S Profile
Number Percent Percent
Orders of Recognizance or Supervision 15 93.7 % 19.8 %
Proceedings Terminated 1 6.2 % 1.3 %
Alternative ATD custody 0 . 0.1 %
Bonded out 0 . 11.0 %
Deported/Removed 0 . 55.3 %
Died 0 . 0.0 %
Escaped 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 %
Voluntary departure 0 . 0.9 %
Withdrawal 0 . 0.2 %
Total 16 100.0 % 100.0 %

Table 3: Reasons individuals left ICE detention during the last 12 months

Orders. The issuance of an order to release the detainee was the most common reason why individuals were recorded as leaving ICE detention from this facility. 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 15 (94 percent) who left the Sandy Pines Hospital detention for these reasons: 15 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 Sandy Pines Hospital 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.

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 Sandy Pines Hospital as either escaping or dying last year.

As shown in Table 3, no one was recorded as leaving the Sandy Pines Hospital during the past 12 months for the following reasons: Alternative ATD custody, Bonded Out, Removed, Release to ORR, Paroled, Prosecutorial Discretion, U.S. Marshals or other agency, 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 Sandy Pines Hospital departed from the national picture. No one left because they were deported from this facility, while for the U.S. as a whole 55 percent left for this reason. 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 (94 versus 20 percent), persons whose proceedings were terminated (6 versus 1 percent), 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.

Pie chart of nat

Figure 3: Nationality of those
leaving ICE detention

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 Sandy Pines Hospital had a much smaller proportion of detainees from Mexico - 25 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 Sandy Pines Hospital last year were: Honduras (31%) , Guatemala (25%), Mexico (25%) and El Salvador (19%).

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%).

Nationalities Ranked in Top 10 Left ICE Detention
Total Deported/
Voluntary
Departure
Percent
- ALL 16 0 0.0 %
1 Honduras 5 0 0.0 %
2 Guatemala 4 0 0.0 %
Mexico 4 0 0.0 %
4 El Salvador 3 0 0.0 %

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

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