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.

Related Resources

• Featured Issue: Deferred Action for Noncitizen Workers Supporting Labor Enforcement Investigations
• Featured Issue: Immigration Detention and Alternatives to Detention