Blog
How to Find Out if Your Loved One Has Been Arrested by ICE?
Not knowing where a loved one has gone is an unsettling feeling. Unfortunately, each day, families and friends of immigrants experience this exact situation. Immigrants who have expired Visas or improper paperwork to live within the United States run the risk of being arrested by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency at any given moment. They can be arrested as part of a routine traffic stop, a workplace raid, or during a number of other scenarios. Because it is common for ICE to house detained immigrants in local contracted prisons or in out-of-state ICE facilities, it can be difficult to locate an immigrant that has been arrested without warning. Learn how to find out if your loved one was arrested by ICE:
For starters, you should consider if the immigrant is within the U.S. illegally. Immigrants who have the proper paperwork and are able to reside within the country should be able to easily prove their status by presenting their valid Visas. If the immigrant is in the country illegally, you should consider the possibility that they have been arrested by ICE. Likewise, it is possible that they have been arrested by Local Law Enforcement Agents (LEA).Â
If you believe that the immigrant may have been arrested by the police, consider calling the local prison where the immigrant resides. This may quickly provide answers, one way or another. They may also be able to provide information regarding if the specific immigrant in question was arrested by ICE or if there have been any raids that have recently taken place in the area. In the event that this provides no information, and it has been at least 24 hours since you believe your loved one was arrested or detained, consider using the ICE Online Detainee Locator Tool. Â
To use this tool, you will need to provide the immigrant’s Alien number or their full name and birth date. There are a plethora of hiccups within the system and misspellings of names are common. If the tool provides no search results, try experimenting with the spelling of the immigrant’s name. If there are still no results, try waiting 24 hours to see if the system updates. Typically, these results will appear within a day or two of the initial arrest. Once you are able to locate the facility in which the immigrant is being housed, you can discover if they are eligible for an immigration bond. In some cases, immigrants may be immediately removed from the country without warning and in other scenarios, immigrants may be held in mandatory detainment until their case concludes in court.Â
If so, you can schedule an appointment at a local ICE facility to make a payment. Keep in mind that ICE requires a bond sponsor to be a legal U.S. citizen or permanent resident with a valid photo I.D. and social security card. If you are unable to pay the bond in full or have other questions after a loved one has been arrested by ICE, reach out to US Immigration Bonds today to learn how we can help.