“The consequences for an illegal immigrant who has been arrested for a criminal offense may be incarceration and fines in the criminal case and deportation in the immigration case. Once an illegal immigrant is arrested, the jail that booked them or law enforcement agency that effected the arrest will report the booking or arrest to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

This is a typical series of events when an illegal immigrant is arrested: The illegal immigrant will be held in the jail of the city, county, or parish in which they were charged; the jail will report the illegal immigrant to ICE. ICE will indicate to the jail and the D.A. that they want the D.A. to drop the charges. The D.A. usually drops their charges. ICE officers come to the jail. They take the illegal immigrant into federal custody. They place him or her in a federal detention center. And ICE then transports the illegal immigrant to immigration court…

If the D.A. does not drop their charges right away, the illegal immigrant will remain in the local jail… No matter what the result, if the illegal immigrant is incarcerated when their criminal case is resolved, they may be subject to a ‘hold’ by ICE. This means that the local jail will notify ICE to take the illegal immigrant into federal custody. If ICE does not want to deport the illegal immigrant, it will not send its officers to take the illegal immigrant into federal custody. The illegal immigrant may be held at a federal detention center. If ICE does not take the illegal immigrant into federal custody, this does not mean that the deportation case has been dropped. The illegal immigrant will still be required to come to immigration court.”

Mar. 13, 2018