Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detentions can last weeks, months, or even years. The length depends on several factors including the person’s immigration status, criminal history, and the stage in which the immigration proceedings are in. Detainees have important legal rights including the right to legal representation, bond hearings, and challenging their detention. ICE cannot detain individuals indefinitely and must conduct regular custody reviews, with various release options potentially available depending on individual circumstances.
ICE can issue administrative warrants. An administrative warrant usually accompanies an ICE detainer. An ICE detainer is essentially a request from ICE to a local law enforcement agency, like a county jail to hold an individual who is in custody, so that they can transport them to ICE detention. The warrants can only be used for civil immigration violations, like unlawful presence. They cannot be used for alleged crimes, like human smuggling.
Administrative warrants authorize ICE arrests in public spaces like sidewalks, parking lots, or building lobbies. Administrative warrants don’t allow entry into private homes or private property. That requires a judicial warrant issued by a judge.
Another way someone might find themselves in ICE detention is through an ICE arrest.
ICE agents are federal law enforcement officers with the authority to arrest individuals for suspected civil and criminal violations of immigration law.
As with detainers, administrative warrants are regularly used when ICE agents arrest someone for a civil violation of immigration law, like overstaying their visa. While ICE agents can arrest someone for an immigration law crime, they typically need a judicial warrant to do so.
If you or a loved one is in a bind as a result of a criminal charge, immediately contact a Seattle Criminal Attorney. A Criminal lawyer is not going to judge you, and understands that everyone makes mistakes. Hiring a Seattle Criminal Lawyer to help can – at a minimum – reduce penalties, and can help direct people on how to best deal with their criminal charge, and many times even get them dismissed. So it should go without saying that someone cited for a misdemeanor or felony should hire a qualified Seattle Criminal Lawyer as soon as possible. Criminal charges can cause havoc on a person’s personal and professional life. Anyone charged with a crime in Washington State should immediately seek the assistance of a seasoned Seattle Criminal Lawyer.