Can sanctuary cities protect you from deportation? Here are the criteria for ICE detentions

As promised during his campaign, second-term President Donald Trump is cracking down on illegal immigration, sending Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to detain and deport those without proper documentation and those with criminal pasts out of the United States.

Trump has stated that he wants to target immigrants who pose safety and national security threats as his top priorities – which is no different from many other past presidents.

ICE has always had a list of people the agency is specifically seeking, as opposed to indiscriminately going to a workplace or apartment building looking for people in the country illegally.

But there are changes under the Trump administration. 

Now, ICE agents can now arrest people without legal status if they run across them while looking for migrants targeted for removal. 

Under President Joe Biden, such "collateral arrests" were banned.

Trump also has lifted longtime guidelines that restricted ICE from operating at "sensitive locations" such as schools, churches or hospitals. 

That decision has worried many advocates, who fear children will be traumatized by seeing their parents arrested in the drop-off line at school or that migrants needing medical care won’t go to the hospital for fear of arrest.

ICE’s daily arrests averaged 311 last year.

But since Jan. 26, the national numbers spiked to 956 in one day, and then on Jan. 27, reached 1,179. If sustained, those numbers would mark the highest daily average since ICE began keeping records.

Here are some questions that you may have about ICE and answers provided by the Asian Law Caucus in San Francisco, the nation's first legal and civil rights organization serving low-income, immigrant and underserved Asian and Pacific Islanders founded in 1972, and the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California. 

What can ICE detain you for?

ICE has the power to detain people who the agency is trying to deport. Another way of saying that is if ICE believes you are "removable," which means a judge is likely to find that you can be deported.

Whether someone is removable depends on many individual factors, but may include: lack of authorized immigration status, certain criminal convictions, or immigration status acquired through fraud.

Most people in ICE detention have active court proceedings that are determining whether they can stay in the United States.

However, the Trump administration is working on increasing the capacity for ICE to carry out deportations, as well as attempting to detain more people without giving them a chance to make their case.

For example, a recently issued executive order aims to expand fast-track deportations, called "expedited removal." 

Under this policy, people can be deported without court hearings unless they are able to prove they have been in the United States for at least two years before being arrested by ICE. 

This executive order is currently being challenged in court by an ACLU lawsuit.
 

Do you have to be convicted of a crime to be deported?

No. 

For example, ICE could seek to deport someone who entered the United States on a valid visa but stayed after the visa expired. 

As another example, someone may have arrived as an asylum seeker but was denied asylum protection after years in the immigration system, but cannot return to the place they fled originally.

Can sanctuary cities and states protect you from deportation?

Yes and no.

Sanctuary laws can ensure that your state and local government will not assist ICE, and they also help victims and witnesses come forward to get the help they need without fear of deportation.

But ICE can still carry out its actions without the help of the local government. 

For example, California’s Values Act prohibits local law enforcement agencies from notifying ICE of when people are released from local jails (except when the person has been convicted of certain violent or serious crimes) and prohibits them from extending a person’s time in jail in order to help ICE. 

Additionally, many California cities have adopted additional sanctuary protections that prohibit local police departments from providing any assistance with ICE, such as providing traffic support during an ICE raid. 

However, ICE still has the ability to send its own agents to arrest people in cities with sanctuary policies, without the involvement of state or local authorities.

FILE ART- An ICE agent walks with a man at a workplace. 


 

What types of crimes fall under deportation criteria?

This is a surprisingly complex question. 

As to state convictions, the answer depends on how the state crime is defined and how it "matches up" to a federal ground of deportation.

Often, people with legal status – including permanent residency – can lose that status after being convicted of crimes. 

This can include relatively minor crimes. 

Additionally, people who serve their time in prison or jail and prove to the Parole Board that they are ready to return to their community are subject to the double punishment of detention and deportation.
 

How does ICE know who to deport?

In states and cities with weak sanctuary protections or no sanctuary protections, ICE often relies on state and local governments to help identify people to deport. 

Even without state and local government cooperation, ICE may engage in surveillance or other tactics to gather information – but this is more time-consuming and resource-intensive than relying on state and local governments as a force-multiplier.

What's different now?

The Trump administration is using a "shock and awe" approach as a deliberate strategy to instill fear and chaos to serve Trump’s power. 

As part of this, the Trump administration has also rescinded a long-standing policy that protects people in hospitals, courthouses, and schools. 

You can find more on Trump’s rescission of the protected areas policy from NILC.

In California, the Attorney General has issued guidance to hospitals, schools, and courthouses on the rights they have if an ICE agent attempts to enter these community spaces. 

All of these institutions can take action to keep people safer and help immigrants and their families safely access public spaces. 

FILE ART - ICE agent. 

Are there new criteria for detention under the Laken Riley Act? 

The Immigrant Defense Project has also laid out the criteria for deportation as well as mandatory detention, since Trump signed the Laken Riley Act, mandating the federal detention of undocumented immigrants who are accused of theft, burglary, larceny, shoplifting, assaulting a law enforcement officer or any crime that causes death or serious bodily injury. 

The law mandates detention for people who are arrested, charged or admit to committing such a crime, without requiring that they first be convicted.

Democrats in the House and Senate raised many concerns about the act before it became law, saying it could be used to unfairly target immigrants whose only crime had been entering the country without authorization. 
 

Does ICE have to notify cities, police departments they're conducting an enforcement?

No, ICE does not have to notify cities or local police departments.

But they often do as a mater of courtesy. 
 

What happens after you are detained?

ICE may detain you in a detention center, release you, or offer you something called "voluntary departure" where you agree to leave the U.S. (usually immediately) without going through deportation proceedings. 

Whether you are detained in a detention center or released, immigration officials may begin deportation proceedings against you by filing a "Notice To Appear," which will give you a date to appear in immigration court.

If you are detained in a detention center, you will have an opportunity to request bond from an immigration judge, although this can take anywhere from several weeks to a few months. 

You have the right to retain and consult with an attorney, although the government will not provide one to you for free.

If you are released, you may be given an electronic monitoring device and required to check in with ICE, either through an app or in-person.

If you are offered "voluntary departure," this means you agree to leave the U.S. voluntarily. If you leave with voluntary departure, you will not have a deportation order on your record.

Some people are able to get an attorney by paying for one, if their state or local government has funded immigration representation, or if they are able to find free legal help from an organization like the Asian Law Caucus or another legal nonprofit.

According to the latest available data from TRAC and the American Immigration Council, nationally, only 14% of people detained by ICE obtain legal representation.

People in ICE detention who had a hearing were four times more likely to be released from detention if they had legal representation.

What can you do if ICE shows up at your door?

Immigrant rights organizations, such as the California Immigrant Policy Center, have put together a resources guide to defend community members "from threats and attacks" under the Trump administration.

No matter who is president, everyone living in the United States has certain basic rights under the U.S. Constitution, immigrant rights groups say, and undocumented immigrants have these rights, too. 

Some of those rights include not speaking to the agents and asking for an attorney. ICE agents also need a warrant signed by a judge to enter your house.

For more on these rights, click here. 

ImmigrationDonald J. Trump