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 Publishes Revised Information Collection on Change of Address Form
EOIR published a revised information collection on Form 33/BIA, Change of Address Form for the BIA and Form 33/IC, Change of Address for Immigration Court. Comments are due 6/3/08. (73 FR 18571, 4/4/08)
AILA Liaison/EOIR Q&As (4/3/08)
The EOIR provides answers to AILA Liaison agenda item questions from the 4/3/08 meeting. Topics discussed include the ICPM, telephonic hearings, venue and related bond issues, biometrics and security clearances, asylum issues, and more.
CA3 Remands Sierra Leonean Withholding Claim
The court reversed the adverse credibility determination finding that Petitioner’s omissions with respect to dates did not go to the heart of her claim and that the few inconsistencies were the result of translation problems or the IJ’s interruptions. (Kaita v. Att’y Gen. of the U.S., 4/3/08)
CA7 Finds IJ Erred in Finding No Past Persecution in Romanian Claim
The court held that the IJ applied an incorrect legal standard in determining that Petitioner had not suffered past persecution as a result of a genital beating. The court held that the IJ erred by requiring Petitioner to show he had been “seriously harmed.” (Irasoc v. Mukasey, 4/3/08)
CA9 Allows Family Unity Smuggling Waiver for Cancellation of Removal Applicants
The court held that its conclusion in Moran v. Ashcroft, that an applicant for cancellation is eligible for a family unity waiver for smuggling when the smuggled person was the applicant’s spouse, parent, or child, was not dicta and is controlling. (Sanchez v. Mukasey, 4/2/08).
Testimony on Oversight of the Department of Homeland Security
On 4/2/08, the Senate Committee on the Judiciary held a hearing on “Oversight of the Department of Homeland Security.”
AILA/USCIS Q & As (4/2/08)
The Q & As address multi-year EADs and Advance Parole docs, H-1B1 cap, the DV lottery and 245 processing, K-3 processing, replacing a lost I-94 card, I-130s for beneficiaries in removal, premium processing, the I-9 Handbook, H-1B portability, VAWA, CSPA, EB-5s, I-751s and much more.
Immigration Law Advisor, March 2008 (Vol. 2, No. 3)
Immigration Law Advisor with an article on burden of proof and voluntariness under persecutor bars to asylum-based relief, federal court activity for February 2008, an article on recent trends on CIMTs, aggravated felonies, and relief, BIA precedent decisions, and a regulatory update.
Vera Institute Paper on Unaccompanied Children
The Vera Institute of Justice provides a literature review, which examines articles by an assortment of scholars, advocates, and practicing attorneys, provides an overview of the published research on unaccompanied children in the United States within a legal and historical context.
CA9 Refuses to Allow VWP Entrant to Contest Removal Through Adjustment of Status
The court held that a Visa Waiver Pilot entrant may not contest removal through adjustment of status, where he was neither eligible for adjustment of status, nor had filed the adjustment application within the 90-day period of authorized stay. (Momeni v. Chertoff, 3/31/08)
CA1 Upholds Adverse Credibility Over Dissent
The court upheld the adverse credibility finding, where discrepancies were clearly present and went to the heart of the claim. The dissent faulted the court for condoning a policy of blindsiding applicants with adverse credibility findings. (Cuko v. Mukasey, 3/31/08)
CA8 Finds Notice Properly Served on Fourteen Year Old
CA8 finds that BIA reasonably concluded that Petitioner, who was 14 years old at the relevant time, was properly served and that 8 CFR §103.5a(c)(2)(ii) does not violate due process. (Llapa-Sinchi v. Mukasey, 3/28/08)
CA7 Upholds Removability for Distribution of a Look-Alike Substance Under IL Law
CA7 found sufficient connection between look-alike substances and actual controlled substances and held that a conviction for unlawful delivery of a look-alike substance in violation of Illinois law was a violation of a state law relating to a controlled substance. (Desai v. Mukasey, 3/28/08)
CA2 Remands for Reconsideration of Derivative Citizenship Claim
The court held that an inexplicable delay in processing a parent’s naturalization application should not defeat a derivative citizenship claim. (Poole v. Mukasey, 3/27/08)
CA2 Rejects Vagueness Challenge to INA Stalking Provision
The court held that INA §237(a)(2)(E)(i), which renders deportable a person who has been convicted of a crime of stalking, is not void for vagueness on its face or as applied to Petitioner. (Arriaga v. Mukasey, 3/27/08)
CA3 Finds Error in Application of National Security Bar
The court found that the AG ignored clear congressional intent by inquiring whether an applicant “may pose” a danger to the security of the U.S. instead of asking whether he “is” a danger in considering the national security bar. (Yusupov v. Att’y Gen. of U.S., 3/27/08)
CA1 Upholds Adverse Credibility Finding Under REAL ID Analysis
The court found internal inconsistencies in Petitioner’s testimony and rejected Petitioner’s contention that the contradictions were minor. (Lin v. Mukasey, 3/26/08)
BIA Finds Alternative Proof of Ghanaian Divorce To Be Valid
The BIA held that while a court order remains the preferred method of establishing a divorce for a customary tribal marriage under Ghanaian law, affidavits executed by heads of household that meet evidentiary requirements may be sufficient. Matter of Francis Kodwo, 24 I&N Dec. 479 (BIA 2008)
CA9 Finds Adjustment Unavailable to Persons Who Enter the U.S. by Fraudulent Means
The court held that Petitioner, who obtained entry into the United States by presenting an identification that was not his own to an immigration officer, was statutorily ineligible for adjustment of status under INA §245(a). (Orozco v. Mukasey, 3/25/08)
Supreme Court Finds State Law Not Pre-empted by Presidential Memo or Avena
The Supreme Court found that neither the ICJ's decision in Avena, nor a Presidential Memo, constitute directly enforceable federal law that pre-empts state limitations on the filing of successive habeas petitions. (Medellin v. Texas, 3/25/08)
Stakeholder/USCIS Q & As (3/25/08)
The Q & As address I-589 nunc pro tunc application filing procedures, material support, repeat requests for fingerprints, filing fees for adjustment applications in proceedings that are later administratively closed, Child Status Protection Act, Fee waivers, DV 90 Day filing procedures, and more.
CA9 Remands Asylum Claim where IJ Failed to Make Credibility Finding
The court held that the IJ erred by failing to make a credibility finding, noting that instances where the IJ has conflated an adverse credibility finding with an adverse decision on the merits have been appearing before the court with increasing frequency. (Huang v. Mukasey, 3/24/08)
CA3 Refuses to Impute Parent’s Continuous Residence to Minor
The court held that the BIA did not err in refusing to impute to a person who entered the U.S. as a minor, the parent’s prior years of continuous residence for purposes of cancellation of removal. (Augustin v. Att’y Gen. of the U.S., 3/20/08)
Opportunity to House an EOIR Legal Orientation Program Attorney
The Vera Institute of Justice seeks letters of intent from nonprofits that are interested in hosting an EOIR Legal Orientation Program attorney at their site. The goal is to educate detained individuals in removal proceedings so they can make more informed decisions.
CA9 Finds Possession with Intent to Sell Marijuana is an Aggravated Felony
Amendement to decision in Rendon v. Mukasey, 2/15/08. (Rendon v. Mukasey, 3/19/08)