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.
| Pre Jan 20, 2025 Status | Current Status |
|---|---|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Browse the Featured Issue: Representing Clients Before ICE collection
CA7 Upholds Denial of Asylum to Ukrainian Prosecutor and His Family
The court held that being a prosecutor is not an unchangeable or fundamental attribute. The court stated that it was Petitioner’s conduct as a prosecutor, and not his status as a member of such a purported social group that caused the alleged persecution. (Pavlyk v. Gonzales, 12/4/06)
DHS Report on Treatment of ICE Detainees
A December 2006 DHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) audit report addresses compliance with U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement Detention Standards at five detention facilities.
CA11 Finds Habeas Proceedings Appropriate Means for Challenging the Existence of a Removal Order
CA11 held that INA §242(a)(5),making a petition for review the “sole and exclusive” means of review of an order of removal, does not apply where the existence of a removal order is challenged. The court remanded to the district court for habeas proceedings. (Madu v. U.S. Att’y Gen., 12/1/06)
CA7 Remands for “Federal Felony Approach,” but Rejects §209(c) Waiver
CA7 found that because it had adopted the “hypothetical federal felony approach,” Petitioner’s heroin possession conviction would not bar asylum. It also upheld the determination that Petitioner was no longer a refugee eligible to adjust status under INA §209(c).(Gutnik v. Gonzales, 11/29/06)
CA2 Holds Pre-Conviction Time Served Counts Toward §212(c)’s Five-Year Bar
The court held that Petitioner was ineligible for relief under former INA §212(c) because he served more than five years for an aggravated felony, including pre-conviction detention. (Spina v. DHS, 11/28/06)
CA9 Holds No Abuse of Discretion in BIA’s Refusal to Reissue Decision
The court held that where the BIA complied with its own regulations when serving its notice of decision, it did not later abuse its discretion in refusing to reopen proceedings and reissue the decision despite Petitioner’s allegation of nonreceipt. (Singh v. Gonzales, 11/28/06)
CA8 Upholds Constitutionality of REAL ID’s Elimination of Habeas Review
The court held that INA §242(a)(2)(D), which permits judicial review of all constitutional claims and questions of law in removal proceedings, is an adequate and effective substitute for habeas review to test the legality of a person’s detention. (Mohamed v. Gonzales, 11/27/06)
CA3 Finds No Constitutional Right to Asylum and Upholds IJ’s Asylum Denial
The court held that there is no constitutional right to asylum and noted that given the discretionary nature of asylum, Petitioner’s argument that the delay violated due process must fail at the threshold. (Mudric v. Gonzales, 11/24/06)
CA9 Holds Stop-Time Rule of INA §240A(d)(1)(B) May Not Be Applied Retroactively
The court held that part B of the permanent stop-time rule of INA §240A(d)(1) may not be applied retroactively to stop the accrual of continuous residence for an individual who pleaded guilty before the enactment of IIRAIRA. (Sinotes-Cruz v. Gonzales, 11/22/06)
CA1 Holds §212(c) Cannot Waive Deportability for a “Crime of Violence”
The court upheld the BIA’s approach in Matter of Brieva, and held that Petitioner, who was deportable for having committed a crime of violence, was ineligible for §212(c) relief because there is no counterpart ground of exclusion. (Kim v. Gonzales, 11/16/06)
BIA Holds Failure to Post Bond Not Same as Failure to Depart
The BIA held that failure to post voluntary departure bond does not make respondent subject to penalties for failure to depart under §240B(d)(1) and granted the motion to reopen proceedings for further consideration of cancellation of removal. Matter of Diaz-Ruacho, 24 I&N Dec. 47 (BIA 2006)
CA1 Holds Adjustment Granted by INS Outside Proceedings Invalid
The court found no due process violation in refusing Petitioner a hearing on whether his status was lawfully adjusted by INS, because he was in proceedings at the time the application was granted and should have filed with the IJ. (Dar-Salameh v. Gonzales, 11/15/06)
CA9 Holds AZ Domestic Assault Statute Does Not Categorically Involve Moral Turpitude
The court held that Arizona’s misdemeanor domestic assault statute requires neither the willful intent nor the type of injury that is necessary for domestic assault to qualify as a categorical crime involving moral turpitude. (Fernandez-Ruiz v. Gonzales, 11/15/06)
CA2 Overturns IJ’s Finding that Albanian Failed to Show Past Persecution
The court noted that a minor beating or any physical degradation designed to cause pain or other suffering may rise to the level of persecution if it occurred in the context of an arrest or detention on the basis of a protected ground. (Gjolaj v. BCIS, 11/9/06)
CA7 Holds Reinstatement of Removal Trumps §245(i) Adjustment of Status
The court held that INA §241(a)(5), which provides for reinstatement of a prior order of removal for illegal reentrants, plainly bars a previously removed individual who has illegally reentered the U.S. from adjustment of status under INA §245(i). (Lino v. Gonzales, 11/6/06)
CA9 Remands Motion to Reopen Involving Vacated Conviction
The court held that the BIA erred in placing the burden on Petitioner of proving his conviction was vacated due to a substantive or procedural defect and was therefore, no longer valid for immigration purposes. (Nath v. Gonzales, 11/3/06)
CA3 Finds Pattern of Persecution of Eritrean Pentecostals
The court found that the record suggested a pattern or practice of persecution of Pentecostals in Eritrea and that the IJ committed legal error in finding that Petitioner could not prevail on his CAT claim because his claim for asylum was denied. (Ghebrehiwot v. Atty. Gen., 11/3/06)
BIA Rules REAL ID Only Applies to Applications Filed Affer Effective Date
The BIA held that REAL ID provisions apply only to relief applications initially filed with an asylum officer or IJ on or after 5/11/05 – not to an asylum application filed with an asylum officer prior to this date but subsequently renewed. In re S-B-, 24 I&N Dec. 42 (BIA 2006)
CA2 on Delivery Presumption for Challenging In Absentia Orders
The court held that for purposes of challenging an in absentia removal order, a presumption of receipt attaches to an NTA that is properly addressed and sent according to normal office procedures. (Silva-Carvalho Lopes v. Gonzales, 11/2/06)
EOIR Memo on Procedures for Automatic Stay Cases
EOIR memo sets forth procedures for handling automatic stay cases pursuant to a final rule effective 11/1/06. The final rule directs IJs to issue written custody decisions in automatic stay cases within 5 business days. An additional 5-day extension can be requested from the BIA.
CA2 Remands Due to New Documents on Forced Sterilization
The court found that despite earlier rulings, documents presented in a recent case suggest that there may in fact be an official policy of forced sterilization in the Fujian province, which may undermine the reliance of DOS reports. (Lin v. Gonzales, 10/30/06)
ICE Releases Revised Procedures for Automatic Stay of Custody Decisions by IJs
Obtained via FOIA by Hoppock Law Firm, ICE released guidance and procedures for the use of the revised automatic stay provision contained in 8 CFR § 1003.6(c) and § 1003.19(i) pursuant to DOJ's final rule issued on 10/2/06. Special thanks to Matthew Hoppock.
CA9 Holds “Crime of Domestic Violence” Must be Intentional to Establish Removability
The court held that Petitioner was not removable for a “crime of domestic violence” because he was convicted under a statute which proscribes “reckless” as well as intentional conduct and the record does not establish that his conduct was knowing. (Fernandez-Ruiz v. Gonzales, 10/26/06)
AILA Liaison/EOIR Q&As (10/18/06)
The EOIR provides answers to AILA Liaison agenda item questions from an 10/18/06 meeting. Topics include the complaint process for IJ conduct, EOIR policies regarding unaccompanied minor children, corroboration of asylum claims, filing at the BIA and Matter of Liadov, and more.
EOIR Announces 10 New Legal Orientation Programs
EOIR announced that six new Legal Orientation Program (LOP) sites for adults, and four sites for children, will become operational within the next few months to assist detained individuals in immigration court proceedings.