Suppose you are an immigrant. Suppose you are stopped by police for a minor offense, such as driving without a license. Depending on where you live, the police might arrest you and take you into custody, even though it was a minor infraction. Once you get in jail, the police run your fingerprints. Then there’s an officer from Immigration and Customs Enforcment (ICE) there to talk to you. He or she tells you now have a “hold” or a “detainer” on you, even though you may be eligible to post bail or even completely finished with your time for the minor offense.
ICE uses holds or detainers to keep you in jail until they can take you into custody and place you into removal proceedings (if you don’t have valid immigration status or if the criminal offense has immigration consequences).
What ICE will not tell you is that their detainers or holds are mostly illegal as they are used. The law authorizes ICE holds for people convicted of drug offenses. However, I have seen them used against people accused (not convicted) of driving without a license or with no proof of insurance. These offenses are certainly a far cry from a drug conviction in terms of level of severity.
There are strong arguments to be made that once an individual has completed serving time and paying fines in relation to the criminal offense or have been allowed to post bail by the criminal court, the county jail no longer has the authority to detain the individual, even with an ICE “detainer” or “hold” in place.
An experienced attorney should be retained to intervene with the county authorities as soon as possible to try and secure the individual’s release. I have been successful in similar cases.
I strongly advise consulting with an immigration attorney about your particular case before filing any papers with immigration, particularly if the person for whom you are filing has any past negative immigration or criminal history and is in the United States. There is always a risk of removal from the United States.