Checklist: when someone in your family is detained
In the first 72 hours, do four things: find out where the person is held, gather the identifying information a lawyer will ask for, start collecting documents for a bond hearing and for the removal case, and make sure nobody signs anything they do not understand. The detained person cannot gather records from inside. That work falls to you, and a detained case moves faster than any other.
Current as of September 2026. We re-check this page every quarter and after any rule change.
Locate, gather, collect, and sign nothing. This page is the family's working list for the first three days. How detained cases run, and how custody rules differ, is on detained removal defense. The court process itself is on removal proceedings.
Hour one: write down what you know
A lawyer, the detention facility and the court will all ask for the same details. Put them on one page:
- Full legal name, exactly as it appears on the passport or birth certificate, with every other spelling and name the person has used.
- Date of birth.
- Country of birth, and country of citizenship if different.
- A-number, if the person has one. It is a number beginning with "A" on any immigration notice, work permit or green card. Look through the papers at home. Keep it private and never send it through a web form.
- When, where and by whom the person was arrested: at home, at work, at a check-in, after a criminal court date, at the border.
- How and when the person first came to the United States, and every entry since.
- Whether the person has ever been deported, been ordered removed, missed an immigration court date, or signed papers at the border.
- Every arrest, anywhere, with the court and the year, even if the case was dismissed.
- Any application or petition ever filed for the person, and any pending now.
- Medical conditions and medications. The facility needs to know these today.
- Family in the United States: spouse, children and parents, with their status.
Day one: find where the person is held
- Use ICE's online detainee locator. It is a free search on the ICE website. Search with the A-number and country of birth if you have them, or with the full name, country of birth and date of birth.
- Try every spelling. Names get entered wrong at booking. Try the names reversed, with and without the second surname, with and without hyphens.
- Search again the next day. A new arrest can take time to appear, and people are transferred between facilities, sometimes across states.
- If the search finds nothing, call the ICE field office for the area where the arrest happened. If the person was arrested by local police first, check the local jail too.
- Once you have the facility, call it and ask how to put money on a phone account, the visiting rules, and how legal mail and legal calls work.
- Answer unknown numbers. Calls from detention often show as blocked or unfamiliar, and the person usually cannot receive calls back.
Then check whether a court case exists yet. Call the EOIR automated line at 1-800-898-7180 with the A-number, or see checking your EOIR case status. The system shows hearing dates in the removal case. It does not show bond proceedings.
If you do not have status yourself
Ask a lawyer before you visit a detention facility or go to an ICE office in person. Someone else in the family can usually carry the documents.
Days two and three: documents for a bond hearing
Where a bond hearing is available, the judge asks whether the person is a danger and whether the person will return to court, under Matter of Guerra, 24 I&N Dec. 37 (BIA 2006). Collect proof on both:
- Where the person will live: a lease, deed or utility bill for the address, and a letter from the person they will live with.
- A sponsor letter from a relative or friend with lawful status, promising housing and help getting to court, with a copy of the sponsor's identification and proof of status.
- Family ties: marriage certificate, children's birth certificates, and proof of each relative's status.
- Time in the United States: tax returns, leases, school and medical records.
- Work: a letter from the employer, pay stubs, a job offer on release.
- Community: letters from clergy, teachers, coaches and neighbors who know the person, each with the writer's identification.
- Every arrest: certified dispositions from the criminal court clerk, and proof that sentences, programs and probation were completed.
- Medical records for the person and for anyone who depends on them.
- Proof the person has a real defense, such as a filed application or a pending family petition. A person with something to win has a reason to come back to court.
Not everyone can get a bond hearing. Mandatory detention under INA 236(c), a prior removal order, and how the person entered all affect it, and parts of this law differ by where the person is held. We do not publish typical bond amounts, because there is no verified figure to give you.
Documents for the removal defense
Start these at the same time. In a detained case the judge sets the filing deadlines, and they are short.
- Every immigration paper at home: notices, receipts, approvals, denials, old court papers, anything from the border.
- The Notice to Appear, when the person receives it. Ask them to read it to you or mail a copy.
- Passports, old and new, and birth certificates.
- Proof of presence for every year in the United States. See the cancellation evidence checklist.
- Records for any United States citizen or resident spouse, parent or child: status, medical, school.
- If the person fears return to their country: anything that shows why. Threats, police reports, medical records, news articles, names of witnesses.
- If the person was the victim of a crime or of abuse in the United States: police reports and court records.
Who should not sign what
- The detained person should not sign anything they do not fully understand, and nothing that was not translated properly. That applies most to a request for voluntary departure, an agreement to be removed, a waiver of a hearing or an appeal, or a withdrawal of an application.
- The detained person should not give a statement about how they entered, where they were born or their criminal history without legal advice. The officer's record of that conversation, Form I-213, is evidence the government will use, and the Board treats it as presumptively reliable.
- Family members should not sign statements for officers or answer questions about the detained person's immigration history.
- Nobody should pay or sign with a "consultant" or notario. Hire a licensed attorney or a representative accredited by the Department of Justice. Ask for the bar admission and check it with the state bar.
- Read a bond contract before you sign it. If a bond is set, ask who is posting it, what is owed if the person misses a hearing, and get a copy.
Tell the person one thing
When they call, say this first: "Do not sign anything. We are getting a lawyer." Then ask for the A-number, the facility, and whether they have been given a court date or any papers.
Read next: detained removal defense, the Notice to Appear, reinstatement of removal, or the glossary.
Common questions
Can everyone in ICE detention get a bond hearing?
No. Under INA 236(a), an immigration judge can redetermine custody and set a bond in many cases. Under INA 236(c), people with certain criminal or security grounds are subject to mandatory detention, and the Laken Riley Act added more offenses to that list in 2025 for people who entered without admission, were inadmissible for fraud, or lacked documents. People with a reinstated removal order are held under a different statute and do not get a 236(a) bond hearing. Which rule applies depends on the person's entry, record and immigration history, which is why those facts come first.
What does the judge look at in a bond hearing?
Two questions: whether the person is a danger to the community, and whether the person is likely to come back to court. Under Matter of Guerra, 24 I&N Dec. 37 (BIA 2006), the judge may consider a range of factors, including a fixed address, length of residence, family ties, work history, criminal record and immigration history. The bond hearing is separate from the removal case, and evidence filed in one is not automatically part of the other.
Should I send you the A-number through your website?
No. Do not send an A-number through any web form, including ours. Write it down, keep it private, and give it to a lawyer by phone or in person. Every immigration matter the person has ever had runs on that number.
Can the person agree to leave and come back later?
That is a decision with long consequences and it should not be made in the first days of detention. Voluntary departure before the end of a case requires conceding removability, giving up other applications and waiving appeal under INA 240B(a) and 8 C.F.R. 1240.26(b)(1). A removal order carries its own bars to returning. Have a lawyer review the whole history before anything is signed.
Tell us where your case is. We will tell you what is still possible.
You get a free case review with an attorney, in your language. We speak English, Russian, Spanish and Uzbek in-house, and we bring in a live interpreter for anything else. We will tell you what stage you are at, which forms of relief are open to you, what your deadlines are, and whether we can help. If we cannot, we will say so.