Detainees Leaving ICE Detention from the
Chippewa County Facility
Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan

Detainees Deported or Released
Number last 12 months 27
Out of total detained 61
Facility ranking on detainees top 82 %

Table 1: Number leaving ICE detention
from this facility

During the most recent 12 month period for which data are available, a total of 27 detainees housed at the Chippewa County 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 through an intergovernmental service agreement (IGSA) under which payments by ICE to another governmental agency are made for housing federal detainees. Additional information about the arrangement, including whether a private company may operate the facility for the government, was not available at the time this report was posted.

Those individuals who departed from this facility because they were leaving ICE detention made up 44 percent of the 61 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 Chippewa County 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 Chippewa County 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 Chippewa County Facility last year ranked in the top 82 percent nationwide in the number of individuals leaving ICE detention. This means that 82 percent of the locations contributed the same or a larger numbers of exits, while 18 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 Chippewa County 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 Chippewa County Facility was the first ICE facility in which these detainees were held. According to ICE records, for the majority (52 percent) of these detainees, the Chippewa County Facility was the first place they were sent when they were detained by ICE. The remaining 48 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 59 percent arrived at the Chippewa County 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 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 Chippewa County Facility on average had stayed at somewhat fewer (1.7) ICE facilities.

Reason Left ICE Facility Profile U.S Profile
Number Percent Percent
Orders of Recognizance or Supervision 10 37.0 % 19.8 %
Bonded out 9 33.3 % 11.0 %
Proceedings Terminated 5 18.5 % 1.3 %
U.S. Marshal or Other Agency 3 11.1 % 4.5 %
Alternative ATD custody 0 . 0.1 %
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 %
Voluntary departure 0 . 0.9 %
Withdrawal 0 . 0.2 %
Total 27 100.0 % 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 10 (37 percent) who left the Chippewa County Facility detention for these reasons: 2 with orders of recognizance, and 8 with orders of supervision.

Bonded out. A group of individuals (9 or 33 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 5 individuals, or 19 percent were released from detention by the Chippewa County Facility because a determination was made that there were no grounds to deport the individuals and thus ICE had to release them from custody.

Transferred to criminal custody. A total of 3 individuals (11 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 by the Chippewa County Facility as either escaping or dying last year.

As shown in Table 3, no one was recorded as leaving the Chippewa County Facility during the past 12 months for the following reasons: Alternative ATD custody, Removed, Release to ORR, Paroled, Prosecutorial Discretion, 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 Chippewa County Facility 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 (37 versus 20 percent), individuals released on bond (33 versus 11 percent), persons whose proceedings were terminated (19 versus 1 percent), those released to the U.S. Marshal or other agency (11 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.

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 Chippewa County Facility had a smaller proportion of detainees from Mexico - 48 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 Chippewa County Facility last year were: Iraq (7%), Albania (4%), Bangladesh (4%), Canada (4%), China, Peoples Republic Of (4%), Dem Rep Of The Congo (4%), Gambia (4%), Russia (4%), Senegal (4%), South Korea (4%), Sudan (4%), Thailand (4%) and Yemen (4%).

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 27 0 0.0 %
1 Mexico 13 0 0.0 %
2 Iraq 2 0 0.0 %
3 Albania 1 0 0.0 %
Bangladesh 1 0 0.0 %
Canada 1 0 0.0 %
China, Peoples Republic Of 1 0 0.0 %
Dem Rep Of The Congo 1 0 0.0 %
Gambia 1 0 0.0 %
Russia 1 0 0.0 %
Senegal 1 0 0.0 %
South Korea 1 0 0.0 %
Sudan 1 0 0.0 %
Thailand 1 0 0.0 %
Yemen 1 0 0.0 %

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

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