ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) has the authority to request an immigration hold or detainer in an effort to secure custody of an individual who has violated immigration laws. If you or someone you know has been arrested and is undocumented in the United States, understanding your legal rights and options is crucial. Work with a knowledgeable Queens criminal removal defense lawyer for skilled representation today.
What is an Immigration Hold or Detainer?
An immigration hold, often referred to as an immigration detainer or ICE hold, is a request from ICE to a law enforcement agency asking them to continue detaining an arrested individual who is suspected of violating immigration laws.
When a person is arrested for an alleged crime, they will be taken into custody, and the law enforcement agency will take photos, run fingerprints, and look into the individual’s background. If the individual is undocumented, meaning that they entered the country illegally or do not have permission to be in the country, the agency may notify federal immigration officials from ICE. ICE may then request a hold or detainer, asking the law enforcement agency to hold the individual in custody for an additional 48 hours past when they would generally be released.
Why is an Immigration Hold Necessary?
Individuals in the United States have a variety of rights when it comes to the criminal justice system. You cannot be held in custody indefinitely or without reason. You must be released if your charges are dropped, bail has been posted, you have served your sentence, you are found not guilty, etc.
However, ICE may want more time so officials are able to take custody of the individual for immigration purposes. Essentially, after an individual is arrested and they are identified as potentially being subject to removal from the country, ICE files a request asking for the individual to be detained for an additional 48 hours to facilitate their custody being transferred to ICE.
What Are NYC’s Laws on Immigration Detainers?
Immigration hold requests from ICE are not ironclad, and compliance is not mandatory from local law enforcement agencies. In 2014, New York City passed two bills (Int. 0486-2014 and Int. 0487-2014) that limit the practice of accepting immigration holds from ICE.
Under Int. 0487-2014, “The NPYD would only honor an immigration detainer if it was accompanied by a warrant from a federal judge, and also only if that person had been convicted of a “violent or serious” crime during the last five years or was listed on a terrorist database. The bill would also allow the NYPD to honor an immigration detainer even if not accompanied by a judicial warrant if the subject had been convicted of a “violent or serious” crime or is a possible match on the federal terrorist watch list and had previously been deported.”
Under this new law, an ICE request does not have to be approved simply because an individual is undocumented. Instead, it requires additional information and evidence of the need for the person’s detainment.
If you have questions or concerns about your rights as an immigrant in the United States, reach out to a skilled attorney today.
