Featured Issue: Representing Clients Before ICE
This resource page combines resources for attorneys representing clients before ICE. For information about why AILA is calling for the reduction and phasing out of immigration detention, please see our Featured Issue Page: Immigration Detention and Alternatives to Detention.
Quick Links
- Seeking Stays of Removal
- AILA Practice Pointers and Alerts (continually updated)
- Practice Advisory: Representing Detained Clients in the Virtual Landscape
- Practice Pointer: How to Locate Clients Apprehended by ICE
- Practice Pointer: Preparing for an Order of Supervision Appointment with ICE-ERO
- AILA ICE Liaison Agenda and Meeting Minutes
Communicating with OPLA, ERO, and CROs
The Office of the Principal Legal Advisor (OPLA) includes 1300 attorneys who represent the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in immigration removal proceedings before the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR). OPLA litigates all removal cases as well as provides legal counsel to ICE personnel. At present, there are 25 field locations throughout the United States.
Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) manages all aspects of immigration enforcement from arrest, detention, and removal. ERO has 24 field office locations. ERO also manages an “alternative to detention” program that relies almost exclusively on the “Intensive Supervision Appearance Program (ISAP)” to monitor individuals in removal proceedings.
Since 2016, ICE has had an Office of Partnership and Engagement (formerly Office of Community Engagement) to be a link between the agency and stakeholders. As part of this office, Community Relations Officers (CROS) are assigned to every field office to work with local stakeholders such as attorneys and nonprofit organizations.
*Headquarters does not provide direct contact numbers or emails for individual employees.* (AILA Liaison Meeting with ICE on April 26, 2023)(AILA Doc. No. 23033004). However, attorneys can contact Chapter Local ICE Liaisons as they may have this information provided to them via local liaison engagement.
- DHS/ICE/OPLA Chief Counsel Contact Information [last updated in 2024, this list no longer appears on ICE.gov as of 1/27/25]
- Contact Information for Local OPLA Offices [last updated in 2024, this information no longer appears on ICE.gov as of 1/27/25]
- ERO Field Offices Contact Information*
- OPE Community Relations Officers
- ICE Check-In Scheduling Website
- ICE Online Change of Address Website
Latest on Enforcement Priorities & Prosecutorial Discretion
Executive Order 14159 (90 FR 8443, 1/29/25) directs DHS to set priorities that protect the public safety and national security interests of the American people, including by ensuring the successful enforcement of final orders of removal, enforcement of the INA and other Federal laws related to the illegal entry and unlawful presence of [noncitizens] in the United States and the enforcement of the purposes of this order. Given the January 25, 2025, confirmation of DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, a memorandum detailing enforcement priorities may be issued in the coming weeks.
An unpublished ICE memo from acting ICE Director Caleb Vitello entitled “Interim Guidance: Civil Immigration Enforcement Actions in or near Courthouses” makes reference to targeted noncitizens and includes:
- National security or public safety threats;
- Those with criminal convictions;
- Gang members;
- Those who have been ordered removed from the United States but have failed to depart; and/or
- Those who have re-entered the country illegally after being removed.
Procedures and email inboxes created under the Biden Administration to request Prosecutorial Discretion no longer appear on the ICE website. AILA members are encouraged to review current DOJ regulations entitled “Efficient Case and Docket Management in Immigration Proceedings” for alternative basis for seeking termination or administrative closure.
Access to Counsel
- ERO eFile:
- An online system developed to electronically file G-28s with ERO. Attorneys and accredited representatives may register for ERO eFile accounts and may also sponsor law students and law graduates who work under their supervision. See AILA’s practice alert (AILA Doc. No. 24051506) for more information.
- ICE Attorney Information and Resources Page
- AILA Practice Alert: Updates to the ICE Attorney Information and Resource Page
Filing Administrative Complaints on Behalf of Detained and Formerly Detained Clients
- Online Intake Form for the Detention Ombudsman (myOIDO)
- Available for complaints for issues in ICE and CBP Custody nationwide, including to submit complaints about access to counsel problems on behalf of currently or previously detained clients.
- Online Complaint Form for DHS Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL)
- Oversight of Immigration Detention: An Overview - May 16, 2022
(provides a list of agencies with which attorneys may file administrative complaints of detention center violations) - Immigration Judge Complaint Toolkit – August 31, 2022
- Practice Alert: Template for CRCL Complaint Regarding Failures to Provide Language Access – July 16, 2021
Selected ICE Policies and Current Status
For comprehensive comparison of current and prior ICE policies, please review the “Immigration Policy Tracker (IPTP).” The IPTP is a project of Professor Lucas Guttentag working with teams of Stanford and Yale law students and leading national immigration experts.
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Browse the Featured Issue: Representing Clients Before ICE collection
Attorney General Narrows Criteria for Asylum Seekers
In a case he referred to himself, Attorney General Jeff Sessions narrowed the criteria for demonstrating membership in a particular social group and overruled Matter of A-R-C-G-. Matter of A-B-, 27 I&N Dec. 316 (A.G. 2018)
Retired IJs and Former Members of the BIA Issue Statement in Response to Matter of A-B-
On June 11, 2018, retired immigration judges (IJs) and former members of the BIA issued a statement in response to the Attorney General’s decision in Matter of A-B-. The statement characterizes the decision as “an affront to the rule of law.”
Attorney General Pushes Immigration Judges to Deny Asylum to Victims of Violence
AILA responds to the Attorney General's precedent decision in which he vacated the BIA decision in Matter of A- B and announced that in his view, domestic violence victims and other victims of crimes perpetrated by private, non-government actors do not generally qualify for asylum.
EOIR Releases Training Materials on Evidentiary Challenges for Appellate Adjudication in the Digital Age
Obtained via FOIA by Hoppock Law Firm, EOIR released a handout on evidentiary challenges for appellate adjudication in the digital age from the 2018 Legal Training Program for immigration judges. Special thanks to Matthew Hoppock.
EOIR Memo on Definitions and Use of Adjournment, Call-Up, and Case Identification Codes
On 6/8/18, EOIR issued Operating Policies and Procedure Memorandum (OPPM) 18-02, Definitions and Use of Adjournment, Call-up, and Case Identification Codes, which sets forth updated codes used to track the case hearing process, is effective immediately, and rescinds OPPM 17-02.
EOIR Swears in Three Immigration Judges
EOIR announced the investiture of three new immigration judges on 6/8/18. Attorney General Jeff Sessions appointed Maria N. Bjornerud, Sean D. Clancy, and Jacqueline J. Jackson to their new positions. Notice includes biographies on the new judges.
CA8 Affirms BIA’s Dismissal of Untimely Appeal of Voluntary Departure Order
The court ruled that rationale of Supreme Court’s Dada decision, which concerned post-conclusion voluntary departure, should apply to this case, which involved a pre-conclusion voluntary departure order. (Camick v. Sessions, 6/8/18)
CA2 Rejects Equal Protection Challenge to §212(h) Waiver
The court held that differentiating between deportable LPRs who seek a waiver from within the U.S. and those LPRs who traveled abroad and are seeking readmission at the border (and are thus deemed inadmissible) did not violate equal protection. (Seepersad v. Sessions, 6/8/18)
Taking the Battle for Humane Treatment of Detainees from Dilley to Colorado
As she shares details about the complaint filed demanding the government address the inhumane conditions and inadequate medical assistance at the Aurora facility, Immigration Justice Campaign National Advocacy Counsel Katie Shepherd urges readers to take action and help vulnerable detainees.
S. 3036: Keep Families Together Act
On 6/07/18, Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) introduced the Keep Families Together Act (S. 3036) to limit the separation of families at or near ports of entry. This is the Senate companion bill to H.R. 6135.
EOIR Legal Training Program on IJ Performance Measures
Obtained via FOIA by CLINIC, EOIR released records of its 6/7/18 Legal Training Program on immigration judge performance measures.
CA11 Vacates BIA Ruling That IJ Was Without Authority to Grant a Waiver of Inadmissibility
The court granted petition to review and found the BIA erred in concluding that IJs cannot have concurrent jurisdiction over a waiver of inadmissibility for U visa applicant, stating the BIA did not address or analyze the plain meaning of INA §212(d)(3). (Meridor v. U.S. Att’y Gen., 6/7/18)
DOJ Announces Release of FY2018, Quarter 1 Data on Incarcerated Foreign Nationals
DOJ announced the release of DOJ/DHS FY2018, Quarter 1 Alien Incarceration Report. The report found that more than one-in-five of all persons in Bureau of Prisons custody were known or suspected foreign nationals, and 93% of confirmed foreign nationals in DOJ custody were in the U.S. unlawfully.
U.S. Chamber of Commerce Urges Congress to Protect Dreamers
On 6/6/18, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce urged the House of Representatives to pass bipartisan legislation to permanently protect Dreamers. The organization also encouraged Congress to reject proposals that would reduce legal migration and ensure those with work authorization can continue to work.
Sign-On Letter to Congressional Leadership on Worksite Raids
On 6/6/18, AILA joined several other human rights and immigrant rights organizations from across the U.S. in calling on congressional leadership to address the return of mass worksite raids and the increase of rogue worksite enforcement actions taken by ICE and DHS.
BIA Finds Forced Labor to Be Material Support to a Terrorist Organization
BIA remanded the record after finding that the respondent afforded material support to the guerillas in El Salvador in 1990 because the forced labor she provided in the form of cooking, cleaning, and washing their clothes provided aid to them. Matter of A-C-M-, 27 I&N Dec. 303 (BIA 2018)
DOJ and DHS Release Data on Incarcerated Foreign Nationals (FY2018, Quarter 1)
Per EO 13768, DOJ and DHS released the FY2018 first quarter “Alien Incarceration Report.” This report includes data on known or suspected foreign nationals in the custody of BOP or USMS, and limited data regarding immigration status of convicted individuals incarcerated throughout the United States.
DHS Notice of Proposed Rulemaking Regarding Immigration Bonds
DHS proposed two changes that would apply to surety companies certified by the Department of the Treasury to underwrite immigration bonds and their administrative appeals process. Proposed amendments would change 8 CFR Part 103. Comments are due by 8/6/18. (83 FR 25951, 6/5/18)
CLINIC Provides Practice Pointer on the Implications of Matter of Castro-Tum
Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. (CLINIC) provided a practice advisory with an analysis of the AG’s decision in Matter of Castro-Tum. The practice pointer discusses the implications of this decision and provides best practices for practitioners.
Members of Congress Condemn Worksite Immigration Raids in Letter to Secretary Nielsen and Commissioner Kautter
On 6/5/18, several members of Congress sent a letter to DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and IRS Acting Commissioner David Kautter condemning the recent worksite immigration enforcement operation conducted in Bean Station, Tennessee.
USCIS Provides Data on DACA Requestors with IDENT Response for Arrests or Apprehensions
USCIS provided data from 2012 to 2018 on DACA requestors who received an Automated Biometric Identification System (IDENT) response due to arrests or apprehensions for criminal or immigration-related offenses, broken down by type and number of offenses and whether application was approved or denied.
Public Complaint Regarding Denver Contract Detention Facility’s Failure to Provide Medical and Mental Care
AILA and the American Immigration Council file a complaint with the DHS OIG, CRCL, ICE, and ICE's Health Services Corps urging an investigation into the government’s longstanding and systemic failure to provide adequate medical and mental health care to immigrants detained at the Aurora Facility.
Complaint Filed with DHS Oversight Bodies Calls for Improvements to Medical and Mental Health Care of Immigrants in Aurora Detention Center
AILA and American Immigration Council released a press release on their complaint, filed 6/4/18, regarding inadequate access to medical and mental health care for immigrants detained at the Denver Contract Detention Facility, which is owned and operated by the private prison company Geo Group, Inc.
TRAC Finds Criminal Prosecutions for Illegal Border Crossers Jumped Sharply in April 2018
TRAC found that federal criminal prosecutions of individuals stopped by CBP along the southwest border jumped 30% in April 2018 over March figures and up 60% since January 2018. This increase follows AG Sessions' April 6, 2018, announcement of a zero-tolerance policy for illegal entry and re-entry.
EOIR Releases IJ Training Materials on Resolving Claims to U.S. Citizenship
Obtained via FOIA by Hoppock Law Firm, EOIR released a presentation from the 2018 Legal Training Program about resolving claims to U.S. citizenship. Special thanks to Matthew Hoppock.