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
EOIR Fact Sheet on Immigration Judge Hiring Initiative
EOIR issued a fact sheet on the immigration judge hiring initiative to fill vacant positions.
AILA Submits Amicus Brief in 9th Circuit U.S.A. v. Aguila-Montes de Oca Case
AILA submitted an amicus brief in the 9th Cir. rehearing of U.S.A. v. Aguila-Montes de Oca, requesting the Court to restore the panel decision or affirm it with clarification that second-stage categorical analysis only applies in the context of divisible statutes.
CA11 Determines Approved I-140 Did Not Make Petitioner Lawful Resident under § 212(h)
CA11 denied petition finding petitioner statutorily eligible for a § 212(h) waiver of inadmissibility because his approved I-140 visa petition did not make him a lawful resident under § 212(h). (Vila v. U.S. Attorney General, 3/10/10)
CA9 Grants Withholding of Removal Finding BIA Failed to Apply Disfavored Group Analysis
CA9 granted petition with respect to withholding of removal and remanded holding that on this record Christians are a disfavored group in Indonesia and BIA erred in failing to analyze claim according to disfavored group analysis. (Tampubolon v. Holder, 3/9/10)
ICE Removals and Returns by Country as of February 22, 2010
ICE released on its FOIA Electronic Reading Room a spreadsheet of removals and returns by country as of 2/22/10.
CA9 Affirms Dismissal of Indictment for Illegal Re-entry
CA9 affirmed dismissal of criminal indictment for illegal reentry because government affirmatively and prejudicially misled petitioner as to his statutory right after his removal in absentia to seek to reopen his removal proceedings. (U.S. v. Arias-Ordonez, 3/8/10)
CA8 Affirms Denial Finding 209(c) Waiver Had No Bearing on Removability for Conviction
CA8 found that since the 209(c) waiver in the record dealt only with waiving inadmissibility grounds for the purpose of seeking adjustment of status, it had no bearing on removability for a conviction and due process was not denied. (Freeman v. Holder, 3/8/10).
CA4 on TPS “Continuous Residence” Requirement and Minor Children
The court found that petitioners, who were minor children, were ineligible for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) because they could not satisfy the “continuous residence” eligibility requirement of 8 U.S.C. § 1254a(c)(1)(A). (Cervantes v. Holder, 3/8/10).
ICE Detainee Dies at Los Angeles-area Hospital
ICE announced that a person being held pending immigration removal proceedings died on 3/5/10 at Kindred Rehabilitation Hospital in Los Angeles following complications from a brain tumor.
CA4 Finds Lack of Jurisdiction to Review Withholding of Removal Denial and CAT Claim
CA4 dismissed petition, finding lack of jurisdiction to review withholding of removal denials in cases involving certain criminal aliens and lack of jurisdiction over CAT claim due to petitioner’s failure to exhaust administrative remedies (Kporlor v. Holder, 3/5/10).
CA6 Finds Former Gang Member Part of Particular Social Group, Denies Petition
CA6 held BIA erred and respondent was a member of the particular group of former gang members, which is impossible to leave save by rejoining the organization. Court denied petition finding him statutorily ineligible for withholding. (Urbina-Mejia v. Holder, 3/5/10).
CA7 on Retroactive Relief and the Ten-Year Bar
CA7 denied petition, affirming BIA ruling that an application for retroactive adjustment of status cannot be granted when the effect would be to lift the ten-year bar. (Gonzalez-Balderas v. Holder, 3/5/10)
Asylum Seekers in the Middle of a 4th Circuit Tug of War
AILA Amicus Committee alert on the view of asylum cases within the Fourth Circuit.
Comment Request Period Extended for Form I-212
USCIS extension of an existing Information Collection; Comment Request for Form I-212, Application to Reapply for Admission into the U.S. after Deportation or Removal. The comment period is extended until 4/5/10. (75 FR 10298, 3/5/10) (74 FR 61358, 11/24/09)
CA2 Finds INA §241(a)(5) Not Impermissibly Retroactive as Applied to Petitioner
The court found that INA §241(a)(5) is not impermissibly retroactive as applied to Petitioner, does not deprive him of due process, and forecloses him from applying for certain additional types of relief. (Herrera-Molina v. Holder, 3/3/10)
CA2 Remands, Finds Errors in Consideration of Political Persecution Claim
The court found that the treatment of Petitioner's claim of political persecution based on his act of reporting official corruption to an international human rights organization was based on substantial errors. (Carranza-Fuentes v. Holder, 3/2/10)
CA5 Affirms Finding Agency’s Decision to Issue LEC Discretionary in U Visa Case
CA5 affirmed district court grant of motion to dismiss in a U Visa case finding that a law enforcement agency’s decision to issue a “law enforcement certification” (LEC) is discretionary. (Orosco v. Napolitano, 3/2/10)
EOIR FY2009 Statistical Year Book
EOIR announced that it has released its Fiscal Year 2009 Statistical Year Book. Hard copies of the publication are not currently available to the public, but a user-friendly version is available on the EOIR website.
Immigration Law Advisor, February 2010 (Vol. 4, No. 2)
Immigration Law Advisor with an article on when “exceptional and extremely unusual hardship” in cancellation of removal is a question of law, federal court activity for January 2010, an article on the Ninth Circuit and the REAL ID act, recent BIA precedent decisions, and a regulatory update.
CA8 Affirms Denial for Failure to Timely Petition Court for Review of Final Removal Order
CA8 denied petition finding because respondent did not timely petition court for review of final ICE removal order, district court lacked jurisdiction “to hear any claim” for relief that would frustrate agency’s action to execute order. (Lang v. Napolitano, 3/1/10)
Matter of S-E-G-, Visibility and Invisibility
AILA Amicus Committee alert on Matter of S-E-G by guest blogger Benjamin Casper, Director of the Pro Bono Litigation Project of the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota, with Stephen Manning, AILA Amicus Committee chair.
CA9 on Expunged Convictions under the Federal First Offender Act
CA9 held first-time offenders convicted of using or being under influence of controlled substance and granted relief are eligible for same immigration treatment as those whose simple drug possession convictions are expunged under FFOA. (Rice v. Holder, 2/26/10)
February 2010 Internal DHS Draft Memorandum Discusses Administrative Measures in Absence of CIR
A 2/26/10 DHS draft memorandum discussing administrative relief options in the absence of comprehensive immigration reform including registration and deferred action, reduction of the family-based backlogs, unlawful presence waivers, and expanded E-Verify.
CA2 Remands on Issue of “Government Acquiescence” under CAT
The court found that the BIA committed error in its review of the IJ’s factual findings and evidentiary record and remanded due to concerns with the BIA’s treatment of the “government acquiescence” standard under CAT (De La Rosa v. Holder, 2/25/10)
CA1 Says Petitioner Not Eligible for 245(i) Grandfathering
The court upheld the BIA’s denial of adjustment of status, finding Petitioner ineligible because he entered the U.S. illegally and could not be grandfathered under INA §245(i). (Castro-Soto v. Holder, 2/24/10)