My Spouse, Parent, Child, or Employee was arrested by ICE; What do I do now?

This is a common question for tens of thousands of people every year in the United States whose loved ones or employees are arrested by immigration officers. The question can come up in many different contexts: “my son was arrested for grand theft, but now he is detained by Immigration,” or “my dad was pulled over for not having a license, now Immigration has him,” or “my husband went to his immigration interview and ICE arrested him,” or “my employee was coming back from a short trip out of the country and they arrested him at the port.”

In Florida, if your loved one was arrested by Immigration Officers, they can be detained in one of multiple ICE detention facilities across the state. If ICE detainees the person in Central or North Florida, they will likely be detained in the Wakulla County Jail just south of Tallahassee or the Baker County Jail just west of Jacksonville. If your loved one was detained in South Florida, they will likely be sent to the Broward Transitional Center (BTC) just north of Ft. Lauderdale, the Kreme Service Processing Center (Krome SPC), west of Miami, or the Glades County Jail, southwest of Lake Okeechobee.

One way to find out where your loved one is detained by ICE is to check the ICE Online Detainee Locator System at https://locator.ice.gov/odls/homePage.do
You will need the Alien Number (A-Number) and country of birth of the person you are searching for. If you do not have that information, you can also search by first and last name, country of birth and date of birth.

If your loved one is detained in Wakulla or Baker, the Orlando Immigration Court has jurisdiction over any bond hearing or removal/deportation case. If you they are detained at BTC, an Immigration Judge there will hear all bond motions and removal or deportation cases. If they are detained at the Krome SPC or Glades County Jail, an Immigration Judge at the Krome SPC will conduct the bond hearing and removal or deportation case.

It is important to remember that non-citizens detained by ICE may or may not be eligible for bond (release) depending on their immigration and criminal histories. The evidence the government is trying to use against them may be inadequate, and just because a person is detained by ICE does not mean they do not have relief from removal or deportation.

The experienced Immigration attorneys at Lasnetski Gihon Law can help you locate where ICE has detained your friends or family members. We can help you request a bond or release from detention. We can also challenge the government’s evidence they are using to detain your loved one. Whether your loved one is detained or not, we can try to seek relief from removal or deportation, to keep them here in the U.S. If all else fails, we can help you request a stay of removal or deportation to stop ICE from removing your loved one and release them from detention.