AT LEAST once a week, someone comes into my office panicking because their spouse or other relative has been picked up and detained by immigration authorities. The relative was arrested and placed in one of the county jails where Immigration and Customs Enforcement detains those with immigration violations.
This can happen in many different ways. The most common situation is where someone is pulled over by police for a traffic violation. If they are driving with no license or are under the influence of alcohol, etc., the officer will place that person under arrest and take them to the police station for booking. Depending on the time of day and how many hours are spent at the jail, it is possible that an ICE officer will be there to take fingerprints. If the prints come back showing that they are undocumented, they will place a “hold” on their record. Once the criminal matter is resolved, ICE will typically take custody and transfer them to a detention site.
Depending on the criminal convictions, ICE will make a determination on bond. A bond is the amount of money that can be paid to ICE to have the person released from jail, but they must still appear at their immigration court hearing.
It is very important to contact a competent immigration attorney as soon as possible if you or a relative is arrested and has an ICE hold. Once ICE makes a determination on bond, you have a very short time before the file is forwarded to the Office of Chief Counsel to begin the deportation process. It is imperative that an attorney be able to contact ICE directly to determine if bond was granted and how much they are requesting. In some cases ICE will decide that there is no bond and an attorney can attempt to work with ICE officers to persuade them to grant a bond. If no bond is granted and the case is referred to the Office of Chief Counsel, ICE officers can no longer grant a bond. At that point an attorney must request a custody redetermination hearing before the immigration judge. This may take a few weeks and the person must wait in detention. Not only will obtaining bond allow release from detention, but will significantly increase the amount of time before deportation proceedings are completed, allowing for more case preparation.
At the custody redetermination hearing, the attorney can provide evidence that the person detained is not a danger to the community and not a flight risk under the circumstances. Unfortunately, certain crimes qualify for mandatory detention and no bond is available. These include any conviction involving a controlled substance, as well as certain theft and violent crimes.
If you or someone you know has been detained by Immigration and customs enforcement, contact an immigration attorney immediately to determine if bond is available and if not, whether or not a custody redetermination hearing would potentially be useful. The attorneys at Wilner & O’Reilly have years of immigration experience, and will do everything possible under the law to ensure that families can be reunited and avoid a lengthy detention process.
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Kelly O’Reilly is a nationally known immigration expert and former immigration officer. He is a highly sought after speaker on immigration and employment compliance issues. Mr. O’Reilly serves as the current chair of the Riverside County Bar Association Immigration section and is a partner in the full-service immigration firm of Wilner & O’Reilly where he provides free consultations. Mr. O’Reilly can be contacted at (562)207-6789 or he welcomes email inquiries at [email protected].
