Detainees Leaving ICE Detention from the
South Texas Contract Detention Facility
Pearsall, Texas
Table 1: Number leaving ICE detention
from this facility
During the most recent 12 month period for which data are available, a total of 9,510 detainees housed
at the South Texas Contract Detention 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.
The use of this facility for the temporary housing of federal immigration detainees was
arranged under a contract with The GEO Group, Inc. 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 63 percent of
the 15,171 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 South Texas Contract Detention 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 South Texas Contract Detention 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
South Texas Contract Detention Facility last year ranked in the top 3 percent nationwide in
the number of individuals leaving ICE detention.
This means that 3 percent of the locations contributed the same or a
larger numbers of exits, while 97
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 (53 percent) left
the country from the South Texas Contract Detention 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 South Texas Contract Detention Facility was the first ICE facility in which
these detainees were held.
According to ICE records, for a substantial proportion (27 percent) of these detainees, the South Texas Contract Detention Facility
was the first place they were sent when they were detained by ICE.
The remaining 73 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 51 percent arrived at the South Texas Contract Detention 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 South Texas Contract Detention Facility on average had stayed at the same number of facilities (1.8)
ICE facilities.
5,069 |
53.3 % |
55.3 % |
3,857 |
40.5 % |
11.0 % |
293 |
3.0 % |
1.3 % |
159 |
1.6 % |
19.8 % |
85 |
0.8 % |
4.5 % |
35 |
0.3 % |
5.2 % |
7 |
0.0 % |
1.0 % |
3 |
0.0 % |
0.9 % |
1 |
0.0 % |
0.0 % |
1 |
0.0 % |
0.2 % |
0 |
. |
0.1 % |
0 |
. |
0.0 % |
0 |
. |
0.1 % |
9,510 |
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 South Texas Contract Detention Facility
was that they were deported.
A total of 5,069 individuals (53 percent) were deported or removed from the South Texas Contract Detention 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.)
Bonded out.
A group of individuals (3,857 or 41 percent) were also "bonded out."
This generally covers situations where the individual posts a bond and is released while awaiting a decision on their deportation (removal) case.
The amount of the bond is set by ICE, or by an Immigration Judge.
Many individuals are not eligible to be released because their continued detention is considered mandatory under provisions in the immigration laws.
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 a total of 293 individuals, or 3 percent were released from detention by the South Texas Contract Detention Facility
because a determination was made that there were no grounds
to deport the individuals and thus ICE had to release them from custody.
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 159 (2 percent) who left the South Texas Contract Detention Facility detention for these reasons: 43 with orders
of recognizance, and 116 with orders of supervision.
Transferred to criminal custody.
A total of 85 individuals (1 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.
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 escaping last year from the South Texas Contract Detention Facility, but there was one death.
As shown in Table 3, no one was recorded as leaving the South Texas Contract Detention Facility during the past 12 months for the following
reasons:
Alternative ATD custody and Release to ORR. See "Reasons for Leaving ICE Detention" for a description of these categories.
Figure 2: Reasons individuals left ICE detention
Comparing Release Reasons Against The National Picture
In many respects release reasons for the South Texas Contract Detention Facility departed from the national picture.
It was the case that differences were seen for individuals released on bond (41
versus 11 percent), detainees released on orders of recognizance or supervision (2
versus 20 percent), those released to the U.S. Marshal or other agency (1
versus 5 percent), and for those paroled (0
versus 5 percent).
The facility's percentages fell within 3 percentage points of the national figures for all other categories.
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 South Texas Contract Detention Facility had a much smaller proportion of detainees from Mexico - 22 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 South Texas Contract Detention Facility last year were:
El Salvador (25%)
, Mexico (22%), Honduras (20%), Guatemala (18%) and Ecuador (2%).
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 within the top 10 among those leaving ICE detention from the South Texas Contract Detention Facility 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 83 percent.
As mentioned above, this compares with 53 percent for all detainees.
9,510 |
5,072 |
53.3 % |
2,375 |
1,111 |
46.7 % |
2,133 |
912 |
42.7 % |
1,858 |
1,453 |
78.2 % |
1,711 |
1,418 |
82.8 % |
237 |
3 |
1.2 % |
235 |
4 |
1.7 % |
144 |
0 |
0.0 % |
139 |
95 |
68.3 % |
109 |
1 |
0.9 % |
83 |
0 |
0.0 % |
Table 4: Numbers leaving ICE detention by nationality
during the last 12 months
With the highest rate of 83 percent were detainees from Guatemala where 1,711 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.