Detainees Leaving ICE Detention from the
Lutheran Community Services
Worcester, Massachusetts
Detainees Deported or Released Number last 12 months 16 Out of total detained 17 Facility ranking on detainees top 90 %
Table 1: Number leaving ICE detention
from this facilityDuring the most recent 12 month period for which data are available, a total of 16 detainees housed at the Lutheran Community Services 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. This is a special facility for housing juveniles. Use of this facility was handled by the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), Division of Unaccompanied Children's Services, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Those individuals who departed from this facility because they were leaving ICE detention made up 94 percent of the 17 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 Lutheran Community Services 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 Lutheran Community Services 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 Lutheran Community Services 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 Lutheran Community Services 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 Lutheran Community Services was the first ICE facility in which these detainees were held. However, for none of these detainees the Lutheran Community Services was the first place they were sent when they were detained by ICE. 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. However, none of these detainees arrived at any 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 4 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 Lutheran Community Services 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 7 43.7 % 19.8 % Proceedings Terminated 4 25.0 % 1.3 % Escaped 2 12.5 % 0.0 % Prosecutorial Discretion 2 12.5 % 1.0 % U.S. Marshal or Other Agency 1 6.2 % 4.5 % Alternative ATD custody 0 . 0.1 % Bonded out 0 . 11.0 % Deported/Removed 0 . 55.3 % Died 0 . 0.0 % Release to ORR 0 . 0.1 % Paroled 0 . 5.2 % 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 7 (44 percent) who left the Lutheran Community Services detention for these reasons: 7 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 a total of 4 individuals, or 25 percent were released from detention by the Lutheran Community Services because a determination was made that there were no grounds to deport the individuals and thus ICE had to release them from custody.
Prosecutorial discretion. The Department of Homeland Security sets immigration enforcement priorities and guidance on the exercise of prosecutorial discretion (PD), including special programs on deferred action for childhood arrivals. To focus its limited resources on higher priority targets, individuals that don't fall into these high priority categories may -- through the exercise of prosecutorial discretion -- be released from custody and any proposed deportation actions deferred. A total of 2 individuals (13 percent) were released under these PD programs.
Transferred to criminal custody. A total of 1 individuals (6 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 dying last year at the Lutheran Community Services, but there were 2 escapes.
As shown in Table 3, no one was recorded as leaving the Lutheran Community Services during the past 12 months for the following reasons: Alternative ATD custody, Bonded Out, Removed, Release to ORR, Paroled, 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 Lutheran Community Services 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 (44 versus 20 percent), persons whose proceedings were terminated (25 versus 1 percent), those who escaped (13 versus 0 percent), PD (13 versus 1 percent), individuals released on bond (none 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 Lutheran Community Services had a much smaller proportion of detainees from Mexico - 6 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 Lutheran Community Services last year were: Honduras (56%) , Guatemala (31%), El Salvador (6%) and Mexico (6%).
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%).
