What Does ICE Do? Arrests, Detention, and Your Rights

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is the federal agency that arrests, detains, and deports noncitizens and investigates cross-border crimes like human trafficking, drug smuggling, and commercial fraud. What ICE does splits cleanly in two: Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) handles the immigration side, and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) runs criminal cases that often have nothing to do with a person’s immigration status. Both sit inside the Department of Homeland Security.¹

The agency’s authority is broad but not unlimited. Some of the most important limits show up at the front door of a private home, and understanding those limits is often the difference between a bad day and a life-altering one.

Immigration Arrests and Deportation

ERO officers identify, arrest, and remove people who are in the country without legal status or who have committed crimes that make them deportable. Federal law lets an immigration officer arrest and detain a noncitizen on an administrative warrant while the government decides whether to remove them.² Officers rely heavily on information from local police and jails to find people with prior immigration violations or outstanding warrants.

Two forms drive most arrests. A Form I-200 (Warrant for Arrest of Alien) authorizes officers to take a named person into custody. A Form I-205 (Warrant of Removal/Deportation) authorizes physical removal from the country. Both are signed by a supervising ICE officer, not by a judge. That distinction matters, and the rights section below explains why.

Standard Removal

When an immigration judge issues a final order of removal, ICE generally has 90 days to carry out the deportation.³ The clock starts when the order becomes final, when a court lifts any stay, or when the person is released from unrelated criminal custody, whichever comes last. In that window ICE coordinates travel documents with the receiving country’s consulate and arranges transport by ground or charter flight.

Expedited Removal

Not every case reaches a judge. An immigration officer at a port of entry who determines that someone is inadmissible because they lack valid documents or used fraud to enter can order the person removed without a hearing.⁴ The same expedited process can apply to people found inside the country who have not been admitted or paroled and cannot show at least two years of continuous presence. One safeguard: anyone who expresses a fear of persecution or an intent to apply for asylum must first be referred for a screening interview with an asylum officer.

Bond

A detained noncitizen who is not subject to mandatory detention can request release on bond. The statutory floor is $1,500, but amounts set by immigration judges commonly land between $5,000 and $25,000 depending on community ties and flight risk.² People with serious criminal convictions or terrorism-related charges face mandatory detention and no bond at all.

Detention and How to Find Someone in Custody

ICE operates one of the largest civil detention systems in the world. Facilities include government-run service processing centers, privately operated contract facilities, and local jails holding detainees under intergovernmental agreements.⁵ Each site is supposed to meet the agency’s Performance-Based National Detention Standards, which cover things like intake medical screening within 12 hours and a full health assessment within 14 days.⁶ Quality varies widely between facilities.

Not everyone in ICE supervision is locked up. The Alternatives to Detention program tracks people through electronic ankle monitors, GPS-enabled smartphone apps, and check-ins with case managers while they wait for court.⁷ It costs a fraction of physical detention per person per day.

If you are trying to locate a detained family member, ICE runs an Online Detainee Locator System at locator.ice.gov. Search by nine-digit A-Number, or by first name, last name, and country of birth. Names must match exactly, hyphens included. The system does not return results for anyone under 18.⁸

Working With Local Police

A lot of ICE’s reach comes through partnerships with state, local, and tribal law enforcement. Two mechanisms do most of that work.

The 287(g) Program

Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, ICE can sign agreements that authorize local officers to perform certain immigration functions under ICE supervision.⁹ Trained local officers can screen people in custody for immigration status, issue detainers, and process removable noncitizens inside local jails. As of March 2026, ICE has signed 1,579 agreements covering 39 states and two U.S. territories.¹⁰

There are several models: a jail enforcement model that screens people already in local custody after a criminal arrest, a task force model that gives limited immigration authority during routine policing, and a warrant service officer model that authorizes local officers to serve ICE administrative warrants inside their jails.

Immigration Detainers

When ICE identifies someone in local custody it believes is removable, it can issue a detainer (Form I-247) asking the jail to notify ICE before releasing the person and to hold them for up to 48 hours (excluding weekends and holidays) so ICE can take custody.¹¹ A detainer is a request, not a judicial order. Whether local jails comply is one of the most politically contested questions in immigration enforcement; some jurisdictions honor every detainer, others refuse to hold anyone past their release date without a judicial warrant.

Workplace Audits

ICE also enforces immigration law by auditing employers. Every U.S. employer must complete a Form I-9 for each worker, verifying identity and work authorization, and ICE can inspect those forms at any time.

For 2025, civil penalties for I-9 paperwork violations run from $288 to $2,861 per form. Knowingly hiring unauthorized workers costs more: $716 to $5,724 per worker for a first offense, $5,724 to $14,308 for a second, and $8,586 to $28,619 for a third or subsequent offense.¹² These amounts adjust annually for inflation. Employers can join the ICE Mutual Agreement between Government and Employers (IMAGE) program, which involves using E-Verify, adopting written hiring policies, running annual internal audits, and submitting to an I-9 inspection in exchange for potential fine waivers and a two-year hold on reinspection.

Criminal Investigations by HSI

Homeland Security Investigations is the lesser-known but arguably more powerful side of ICE. HSI is one of the largest investigative agencies in the federal government, and its work extends well past immigration into networks that operate across borders.

Human Trafficking

HSI is a lead federal agency for human trafficking cases. The forced labor statute criminalizes obtaining someone’s work through threats, physical restraint, or abuse of the legal system, with penalties up to 20 years in prison (or life if the victim dies or the crime involves kidnapping).¹³ A separate statute targets sex trafficking by force, fraud, or coercion, carrying a 15-year mandatory minimum and up to life imprisonment.¹⁴ Cases involving minors do not require proof of force or coercion.

Drug Smuggling

Federal law makes it illegal to import any Schedule I or II controlled substance into the country.¹⁵ HSI targets large-scale smuggling of fentanyl, cocaine, methamphetamine, and other drugs, going after supply chains rather than individual users. Cases often intersect with violent transnational gangs that use drug profits to fund other criminal operations.

Child Exploitation

HSI’s Cyber Crimes Center houses a Child Exploitation Investigations Unit that targets the production and distribution of child sexual abuse material, online predators, and child sex tourism.¹⁶ The agency’s flagship enforcement initiative, Operation Predator, has resulted in more than 8,000 criminal arrests since 2003.¹⁷ Tips can be reported to 1-866-347-2423 or through the form at ice.gov.

Counterfeit Goods and Stolen Cultural Property

The National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center leads investigations into imported counterfeit merchandise that infringes on trademarks and copyrights. Federal law allows seizure of any merchandise brought into the country that is stolen, smuggled, or violates copyright, trademark, or trade name protections.¹⁸ Seizures range from fake pharmaceuticals and electronics to knockoff luxury goods, and can carry real safety risks alongside the economic harm. A separate Cultural Property, Art and Antiquities program investigates trafficking of stolen artifacts and coordinates their return to the countries of origin.¹⁹

Help for Trafficking Victims

HSI’s role in trafficking is not only prosecution. Federal law creates a path to legal status through T nonimmigrant status. A qualifying victim must be a victim of a severe form of trafficking, be present in the U.S. because of the trafficking, show extreme hardship if removed, and comply with reasonable law enforcement requests for assistance.²⁰ Victims under 18 and those unable to cooperate because of trauma are exempt from the cooperation requirement. T visa holders can eventually apply for lawful permanent residence.

International Students and Exchange Visitors

ICE oversees the legal presence of international students through the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP). Any school that enrolls F (academic) or M (vocational) students must first be certified through a petition that costs $3,000, plus $655 for a mandatory site visit at each campus location.²¹ Colleges, universities, community colleges, seminaries, private K-12 schools, public high schools, and vocational programs can be certified; home schools, preschools, public elementary and middle schools, and primarily online programs cannot.

Certified schools track and report enrolled students through the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS). Students pay a one-time I-901 SEVIS fee before their visa interview: $350 for F and M applicants and $220 for most J (exchange visitor) applicants.²²

Your Rights During an ICE Encounter

The single most important fact about ICE authority is this: an ICE administrative warrant (Form I-200 or I-205) is not issued by a judge. It is an internal government document signed by an ICE supervisor. Federal courts have consistently held that these administrative warrants do not authorize officers to enter a private home without the occupant’s consent, because they do not satisfy the Fourth Amendment’s requirement that a warrant be issued by a neutral magistrate. A judicial warrant will name a court on its face and does authorize entry.

You are not required to open your door if ICE officers present only an administrative warrant. You can ask to see the warrant through a window or under the door. If the top of the document says “Department of Homeland Security” rather than “United States District Court” or a state court, it is an administrative warrant. If officers have a judicial warrant signed by a judge, they have legal authority to enter. This area of law has been actively litigated in 2025 and 2026, with federal courts in different states reaching different conclusions about the scope of ICE’s authority to enter homes, so the legal picture is shifting.

Regardless of immigration status, everyone in the United States has the right to remain silent and the right to speak with an attorney. You do not have to answer questions about where you were born, your immigration status, or how you entered the country. If ICE officers stop you in a public place, you can ask whether you are free to leave. If you are arrested, ask to speak with a lawyer before answering any questions.

1
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. History of ICE
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1226 – Apprehension and Detention of Aliens
3
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1231 – Detention and Removal of Aliens Ordered Removed
4
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1225 – Inspection by Immigration Officers; Expedited Removal of Inadmissible Arriving Aliens
5
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Detention Facilities
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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Performance-Based National Detention Standards 2011 (Revised 2016) – Medical Care
7
Congress.gov. Immigration: Alternatives to Detention (ATD) Programs
8
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Online Detainee Locator System
9
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1357 – Powers of Immigration Officers and Employees
10
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Delegation of Immigration Authority Section 287(g)
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eCFR. 8 CFR 287.7 – Detainer Provisions
12
Federal Register. Civil Monetary Penalty Adjustments for Inflation
13
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 1589 – Forced Labor
14
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 1591 – Sex Trafficking of Children or by Force, Fraud, or Coercion
15
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 21 US Code 952 – Importation of Controlled Substances
16
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Cyber Crimes Center
17
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Operation Predator – Targeting Child Exploitation and Sexual Crimes
18
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 19 USC 1595a – Forfeitures and Other Penalties
19
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. HSI Cultural Property, Art and Antiquities Program Repatriates Over 135 Artifacts
20
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Victims of Human Trafficking: T Nonimmigrant Status
21
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. SEVP Certification Frequently Asked Questions
22
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. I-901 SEVIS Fee