Immigration can hold you in jail anywhere from 48 business hours to several years, depending on where you are in the process. A local jail acting on an ICE detainer can hold you for up to 48 business hours after your criminal case ends. Once you are in ICE custody and placed in removal proceedings, detention can stretch for months or longer unless a judge grants bond. After a final order of removal, the government has 90 days to deport you, and the Supreme Court has set six months as the general outer limit for post-order detention when deportation is not realistically going to happen.
The 48-Hour Detainer at a Local Jail
When a noncitizen is arrested on criminal charges, Immigration and Customs Enforcement can send the jail an immigration detainer, often called an “ICE hold.” The detainer asks the jail to notify ICE before releasing the person and to keep them in custody for up to 48 additional hours after they would otherwise be free to go.1U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Immigration Detainers Those 48 hours give ICE a window to pick the person up and move them into federal immigration custody.
Weekends and federal holidays do not count against the clock.2eCFR. 8 CFR 287.7 – Detainer Provisions Under Section 287(d)(3) of the Act Someone whose criminal case wraps up on a Friday afternoon may sit in jail through the weekend before the 48 business hours even start running. In practice that can mean three or four calendar days. If ICE does not take custody by the time the 48 business hours expire, the jail is supposed to release the person.3U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. ICE Policy 10074.2 – Issuance of Immigration Detainers
A detainer is a request, not a court order. Some local jurisdictions decline to honor detainers, and federal courts have generally upheld that choice. In those places, a person may walk out of jail without ICE being notified at all.
Detention Once You Are in Removal Proceedings
If ICE does take custody and places you in removal proceedings before an immigration judge, the detention clock has no automatic endpoint. Immigration court cases routinely take months, and contested cases with appeals can run past a year. During that whole stretch you remain in ICE custody unless you obtain release on bond or ICE releases you on its own.
The main path out is a bond hearing. ICE sets an initial bond when it takes custody. If you cannot pay it, or if ICE denies bond entirely, you can ask an immigration judge for a bond redetermination, either orally or in writing.4Executive Office for Immigration Review. EOIR Policy Manual – Bond Proceedings At the hearing the judge decides whether you are likely to appear at future hearings and whether you pose a danger to anyone in the community. The burden is on you. Judges weigh family ties, work history, time in the United States, and your full criminal record.
If the judge grants bond, the minimum is $1,500, and there is no legal maximum.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1226 – Apprehension and Detention of Aliens Amounts of $10,000 to $25,000 are common and can go higher. You can pay ICE directly, which is refundable if you attend all your hearings, or use a private bond company that charges a non-refundable premium.
Mandatory Detention: No Bond Available
Not everyone gets to argue for bond. Federal law requires ICE to detain certain people for the duration of their removal proceedings with no possibility of release. This mandatory detention applies to people who fall into categories tied to criminal convictions or national security concerns.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1226 – Apprehension and Detention of Aliens – Section: (c) Detention of Criminal Aliens
The two broadest triggers are convictions for an “aggravated felony” or a “crime involving moral turpitude.” Both terms are misleading. The aggravated felony list under immigration law reaches beyond violent crimes to include theft with a one-year sentence, fraud over $10,000, and certain tax offenses.7Legal Information Institute. 8 USC 1101(a)(43) – Aggravated Felony Definition Crimes involving moral turpitude form a vaguer category that can capture many common offenses.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1182 – Inadmissible Aliens Certain controlled substance violations, firearms offenses, and national security charges are also on the list.
Under mandatory detention, the law says you stay locked up until a judge decides your case, however long that takes. In 2018 the Supreme Court held in Jennings v. Rodriguez that the mandatory detention statute does not entitle people to periodic bond hearings, even after months or years of detention.9Justia. Jennings v. Rodriguez, 583 U.S. ___ (2018) Constitutional challenges through habeas corpus are still available, but there is no automatic right to a bond hearing in this group.
The 90-Day Removal Period After a Final Order
Once an immigration judge issues a final order of removal and all appeals are exhausted, detention enters a new phase. The government has 90 days to carry out the deportation, and during that window detention is mandatory for everyone.10Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1231 – Detention and Removal of Aliens Ordered Removed ICE uses the time to arrange travel documents, book transport, and coordinate with the receiving country.
The 90-day clock starts on the latest of three dates: the day the removal order becomes final, the date any stay of removal is lifted, or the day the person is released from non-immigration detention such as a criminal sentence. Someone finishing a prison term with a removal order in place will not see the 90 days start until they walk out of prison and into ICE custody.
If you refuse to cooperate with removal efforts, the 90-day period can be suspended entirely, and detention continues until you begin cooperating. Cooperation means a good-faith effort to obtain travel documents and not obstructing the government’s arrangements. People flagged for failure to comply lose access to the custody review process described below.
The Six-Month Ceiling on Post-Order Detention
When deportation does not happen within 90 days, ICE can keep holding you, but not forever. In Zadvydas v. Davis, the Supreme Court ruled that post-removal-order detention cannot be indefinite and identified six months as the “presumptively reasonable” period.11Justia. Zadvydas v. Davis, 533 U.S. 678 (2001)
After six months the burden shifts. If you can show that there is no significant likelihood of your removal in the reasonably foreseeable future, continued detention becomes constitutionally suspect. This most often happens when the home country will not accept deportees or has no repatriation agreement with the United States. The government then has to show that removal is still realistically possible.12Legal Information Institute. Zadvydas v. Davis
If it cannot, you may be released under an Order of Supervision. That is not freedom. It comes with conditions like regular ICE check-ins and providing information about your nationality and travel documents.13U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Post Order Custody Reviews Responsibilities and Guidance People classified as special risks to national security or public safety may be detained beyond six months.
Custody Reviews at 90 and 180 Days
ICE does not simply hold post-order detainees without checking in on the case. Federal regulations build in two custody reviews. By day 90, the local ICE Field Office Director must formally decide whether to continue detention or release the person, based on flight risk and community threat.13U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Post Order Custody Reviews Responsibilities and Guidance
The timeline is set. Between days 30 and 60 ICE serves you with a notice and questionnaire. Your answers feed into the decision, which is signed by day 85 to 90. If detention continues, a second review takes place at day 180. Custody authority then transfers from the local office to ICE headquarters for an independent review. People flagged for failure to cooperate with removal are excluded from the process until they come back into compliance.
Challenging Detention That Has Gone Too Long
If you believe your detention has run past what the law allows, the main legal tool is a habeas corpus petition filed under 28 U.S.C. ยง 2241 in the federal district court where you are held. The filing fee is $5, and courts can waive it for people who cannot pay. A habeas petition asks the court to review whether the government still has legal authority to keep you in custody. This is the mechanism the Supreme Court had in mind in Zadvydas for people whose removal is not realistically foreseeable.
A habeas petition targets the legality of the detention itself. If you want to challenge the underlying removal order, that generally goes to a federal court of appeals through a petition for review, which is a different process.
A Note on Expedited Removal
Some people never reach immigration court at all. Under expedited removal, immigration officers can order someone deported without a hearing before a judge. It applies to people who arrive at the border without valid documents or who are found inside the country and cannot show at least two years of continuous presence.14Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1225 – Inspection by Immigration Officers; Expedited Removal of Inadmissible Arriving Aliens Anyone who expresses a fear of returning home is entitled to a credible fear interview and remains detained during that screening.15USCIS. Questions and Answers: Credible Fear Screening The court timelines above do not apply until a case moves out of the expedited track.
Right to a Lawyer
People in removal proceedings have the right to counsel, but the government does not have to provide one.16GovInfo. 8 USC 1229a – Removal Proceedings There is no public defender system for immigration court. You can hire an attorney or try to find pro bono help, but you are not entitled to a free lawyer simply because you cannot afford one. Bond hearings, mandatory detention classifications, and habeas petitions are hard to navigate alone, and mistakes at any stage can add months of detention.
Finding a Detained Person
If someone you know has been taken into ICE custody, the fastest way to locate them is ICE’s Online Detainee Locator System. You can search by name, country of birth, and date of birth, or by the 8- or 9-digit A-number that appears on immigration paperwork.17USAGov. Locate Someone Being Detained by ICE The system is not always current, since transfers between facilities create gaps, but it is usually the best starting point. Finding an attorney quickly matters more than most families realize. Bond hearings, mandatory detention classifications, and credible fear interviews all run on tight timelines, and a missed window often means months of additional detention.