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
Congressional Letter on Inclusion of Individualized Custody Determinations Language in the FY2023 Bill
Members of Congress sent a letter to the House Subcommittee on Homeland Security Appropriations urging inclusion of language in the FY2023 appropriations bill requiring individualized custody determinations for all people in the custody of ICE within 20 days of custody.
Representatives Send “Dear Colleague” Letter to Appropriators on ICE Custody Determinations and DHS FY2023 Appropriations Bill
Members of Congress sent a letter to House appropriators urging them to include language similar to section 219 of the FY2022 Full Committee Draft Bill, requiring individualized custody determinations for everyone in ICE custody within 20 days of coming into custody, notwithstanding INA §236(c).
CA2 Finds It Lacks Jurisdiction to Review Petitioner’s Challenge to IJ’s Adverse Withholding Determination
The court dismissed the petition for review for lack of jurisdiction, holding that the IJ’s adverse withholding determination did not qualify as an order of removal, and thus did not fall within INA §242’s jurisdictional grant. (Bhaktibhai-Patel v. Garland, 4/27/22)
AILA and Partners Submit Amicus Brief on Motion to Reopen and the Vacatur of a Criminal Conviction
AILA and partners submitted an amicus brief requesting the BIA to pursue uniform rules that comprise a framework of fundamental fairness when adjudicating motions to reopen based on a vacated conviction that renders the respondent no longer deportable or eligible for discretionary relief.
Resources Related to the Orantes Injunction
The Orantes injunction requires DHS uphold certain rights of Salvadorans in immigration detention. In Feb. 2022, plaintiffs filed a motion to reopen discovery, arguing MPP raises questions about government's compliance with injunction. The court granted majority of the motion on 4/27/22.
CA9 Says BIA Did Not Abuse Its Discretion in Finding Petitioner Did Not Warrant Equitable Tolling of Motion to Reopen
Where petitioner filed a motion to reopen 16 years after the statutory deadline, the court held that the BIA did not abuse its discretion in finding he did not warrant equitable tolling of the time limit based on alleged ineffective assistance of counsel. (Hernandez-Ortiz v. Garland, 4/26/22)
CA9 Concludes It Can Deny Petition Based on BIA’s Lack of Jurisdiction Even Where BIA Did Not Rule on That Basis
Upholding the BIA’s denial of petitioner’s motion to reopen, the court concluded that it could properly deny a petition for review based on the BIA’s lack of jurisdiction under INA §241(a)(5), even where the BIA did not rely on that jurisdictional bar. (Gutierrez-Zavala v. Garland, 4/26/22)
Chief Immigration Judge Provides Guidance on Deferring Adjudication of Certain Cases
Guidance from Chief Immigration Judge Tracy Short alerting courts that he will be moving certain cases that “are not ripe for adjudication” off court dockets. Special thanks to Evan Benz, who submitted a FOIA to obtain this guidance.
ICE 30-Day Notice and Request for Comments on Proposed Revisions to Form I-312/Form I-312A
ICE 30-day notice and request for comments on proposed revisions to Form I-312, Designation of Attorney in Fact, and Form I-312A, Revocation of Attorney in Fact. Comments are due 5/25/22. (87 FR 24326, 4/25/22)
CRS Provides Report on U.S. Immigration Courts and the Pending Cases Backlog
CRS provided a report on the U.S. immigration courts and the pending cases backlog. The report outlines EOIR’s adjudicatory components, explains removal proceedings, presents proposed solutions to the backlog, addresses the Real Courts, Rule of Law Act of 2022, and more.
AILA and Partners Submit Amicus Brief on the Nonstate Actor Test
AILA and partners submitted a brief urging the court to apply the de novo standard of review to the agency’s legal analysis in regards to the nonstate actor test, grant the petition for review, and remand for the BIA to apply correct standard of review and unable-or-unwilling nonstate actor test.
BIA Sustains Respondent’s Appeal after Applying Matter of Pickering and Finding Virginia Controlled Substance Statute Divisible
BIA found that if a nunc pro tunc order is based on procedural or substantive defect in underlying proceedings, the original conviction is invalid for immigration purposes and that VA Code is divisible with respect to controlled substance involved. Matter of Dingus, 28 I&N Dec. 529 (BIA 2022)
BIA Finds Louisiana Domestic Abuse Statute Is Not Categorically a Crime of Domestic Violence under INA §237(a)(2)(E)(i)
BIA says SCOTUS construction of “physical force” in Johnson and Stokeling controls its interpretation of 18 USC §16(a), which is incorporated by reference into INA, and Louisiana Statutes is overbroad with respect to §16(a). Matter of Dang, 28 I&N Dec. 541 (BIA 2022)
DHS OIG Releases Report on Standard Violations at South Texas ICE Processing Center
DHS OIG inspected the South Texas ICE Processing Center, identifying violations of ICE detention standards that compromised the health, safety, and rights of detainees. DHS OIG made five recommendations; ICE concurred.
ICE 30-Day Notice and Request for Comments on Proposed Revisions to Form I-333
ICE 30-day notice and request for comments on proposed revisions to Form I-333, Obligor Change of Address. Comments are due 5/23/22. (87 FR 24190, 4/22/22)
AILA Colorado Chapter Opposition to the Potential Appointment of Wayne Paugh as an Immigration Judge
The AILA Colorado Chapter sent a letter to DOJ and EOIR expressing its opposition to the potential appointment of Wayne Paugh as an immigration judge.
DHS 5-Day Notice and Request for Comments on New MPP Disenrollment Request System
DHS 5-day notice and request for comments on a new public-facing Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) Disenrollment Request website. Comments are due 4/26/22. (87 FR 23879, 4/21/22)
EOIR to Stop Holding Hearings in Pittsburgh on Sidney Street
EOIR announced it will no longer hold hearings in Pittsburgh, effective at close of business on April 29, 2022. DHS is unable to support hearings there at this time. Pittsburgh-area respondents and representatives can have cases heard remotely or in person at the Philadelphia immigration court.
CA5 Denies Rehearing En Banc in Rodriguez v. Garland
The court denied the petition for panel rehearing and rehearing en banc in Rodriguez v. Garland, in which the court held that the BIA erroneously interpreted INA §239(a) in denying petitioner’s motion to reopen and rescind his in absentia removal order. (Rodriguez v. Garland, 4/19/22)
CA1 Holds That BIA Failed to Apply Clear-Error Review to IJ’s Factual Finding of Hardship to Petitioner’s Father
The court held that the BIA impermissibly changed the IJ’s factual finding from a finding that hardship “would” occur to the petitioner’s father to a finding that hardship “might” occur without applying clear-error review, and thus granted the petition for review. (Barros v. Garland, 4/19/22)
EOIR Rescinds Policy Memoranda 19-05, 21-06, and 21-13
EOIR rescinded PM 19-05, Guidance Regarding the Adjudication of Asylum Applications Consistent with INA § 208(d)(5)(A)(iii); PM 21-06, Asylum Processing; and PM 21-13, Continuances.
CA4 Says BIA Did Not Err in Considering Aggregate Risk of Torture as to Salvadoran Petitioner
Upholding the denial of Convention Against Torture (CAT) relief, the court held that the IJ did not improperly conflate risks posed by the police and vigilante groups, and that BIA correctly reviewed the IJ’s finding under the clearly erroneous standard. (Ibarra Chevez v. Garland, 4/15/22)
Five Tips to Minimize Retraumatizing Your Clients
Every time a client must tell their traumatic experiences, there is a potential for retraumatizing them. Minimize that effect and improve your advocacy through these five essential tips from the popular roundtable The Trauma-Informed Practice & Lawyering Skills.
EOIR Announces New Appellate Judge
EOIR announced the appointment of Beth Liebmann as a member of BIA by Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. Biographical information for Liebmann has been provided.
BIA Invites Amicus Briefs on Texas Burglary Statute
The BIA invites amicus curiae briefs discussing Texas Penal Code §30.02(a)(3), the generic offense of burglary, and whether a conviction under Texas Penal Code §30.02(a)(3) is a “crime of violence” under INA §101(a)(43(F) that meets the “physical force” element. Briefs are due May 3, 2022.