Immigration Detention

Date of Information: 01/01/2025

Please check back soon as this page is actively under development.

Imprisonment by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (“ICE”) can be a harrowing experience for a lot of reasons. There is perhaps no other feature of American law where a noncriminal is subjected to as profound a deprivation of their freedom. It is frequently just as stressful for the non-citizen’s friends and family on the outside. It also makes it considerably more difficult for immigration attorneys and authorized representatives to work with their clients to prepare an adequate defense to the removal. This guide, and the sub-guides incorporated into it, are intended as a step-by-step guide to locating, communicating with, and freeing a non-citizen in ICE detention.

Step 1: Locate the Non-Citizen

One of the alarming aspects of ICE Detention is that by outward apperances, the non-citizen can just vanish.

Step 2: File an Entry of Appearance on Behalf of the Detainee

Step 3: Establish Communications with the Detainee

Step 4: Determine Why the Non-Citizen is Detained.

Step 5: Develop a Comprehensive Strategy for Addressing the Allegations

Step 6: File a Request for a Bond Determination

Step 7: Prepare for the Bond Hearing

There are a few things you must do to prepare for a bond hearing and yet more things you should do.

Things You Must Do to Prepare for a Bond Hearing:

  1. Complete and File a Bond Hearing Worksheet. If you file the worksheet in ECAS, file it as supplementary evidence.

  2. Develop Cogent Arguments for the Two Dispositive Issues in any Bond Determination:

    1. Whether the detainee poses a threat to the community; and

    2. Whether the detainee is a flight risk, i.e. whether the detainee is likely to appear for and meaningfully participate in the anticipated immigration court proceedings.

Things You Should Do to Prepare for a Bond Hearing:

  1. Compile Supporting Documentation. This will probably require considerable coordination with the detainee’s friends and family. The detainee is unlikely to have sufficient communication with his or her loved ones on the outside to do the necessary coordination on his own. Moreover, he or she is unlikely to have unrestricted access to their own important documents. An inexhaustive list of documentation you should compile can be found here.

Other Helpful Resources:

See Also:

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