What Is Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO)?

Enforcement and Removal Operations, known as ERO, is the division of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement that identifies, arrests, detains, and physically removes noncitizens from the United States.¹ It sits inside the Department of Homeland Security, carries out final removal orders issued by immigration judges, and manages every step in between, from the first knock on the door to the flight out. ERO also supervises a much larger non-detained docket of people living in the community while their cases move through the system, roughly 7.6 million as of late 2024.²

Who ERO Goes After

ERO officers do not sweep neighborhoods at random. They work from databases, tips, and information shared with other agencies to identify specific individuals who fit current enforcement criteria. Suspected national security threats sit at the top of the priority list. People with serious criminal convictions come next, then recent border crossers, then those who have ignored prior removal orders.

Those priorities shift with each administration. The Laken Riley Act, signed into law in early 2025, expanded mandatory detention to reach noncitizens charged with, arrested for, or convicted of theft, burglary, larceny, or shoplifting.³ The same law lets state attorneys general sue the federal government over decisions to release certain noncitizens or over the failure to impose visa sanctions on countries that refuse to take back their deported nationals.

How ERO Can Arrest You

ERO officers arrest people through two legal channels. The first is warrant-based: federal law lets an immigration officer arrest and detain a noncitizen on a warrant issued by the Attorney General while a removal decision is pending.⁴ These are administrative warrants, civil documents signed by immigration officials, not criminal warrants signed by a judge. The distinction changes what officers can lawfully do at your front door.

The second channel is warrantless arrest. An immigration officer can arrest without a warrant if the officer witnesses someone entering the country unlawfully, or has reason to believe the person is in the country illegally and is likely to flee before a warrant can be obtained.⁵ Either way, probable cause is required.

Immigration Detainers

When someone is already in state or local custody on criminal charges, ERO can issue an immigration detainer asking the jail to hold that person for up to 48 additional hours after they would otherwise be released. ICE itself describes detainers as requests that impose no obligation on local law enforcement.⁶ Several federal courts have found that holding someone solely on an ICE detainer can be an unlawful seizure under the Fourth Amendment, with the local agency bearing the liability. Many jurisdictions now decline to honor detainers without a judicial warrant.

Schools, Hospitals, and Churches

ICE previously maintained a formal policy limiting enforcement at sensitive locations like schools, hospitals, and houses of worship. In January 2025, DHS rescinded that policy and replaced it with broader guidance telling officers to use discretion and “common sense.” Mid-level supervisors now make case-by-case decisions instead of following a categorical prohibition. Arrests at or near these locations are no longer off-limits, though the guidance still directs officers to consider the setting.

Your Rights During an ERO Encounter

Everyone physically in the United States has constitutional protections during an encounter with immigration officers, regardless of status. Three matter most in practice.

The right to remain silent. You do not have to answer questions about where you were born, how you entered, or your immigration status. Lying to a federal officer is a crime. Staying silent is not.
The right to refuse entry to your home. An administrative warrant signed by an ICE officer does not authorize entry into a private residence. Only a judicial warrant signed by a federal judge or magistrate does. If officers show up at a home with only an administrative warrant, the occupant can decline to open the door.
The right to an attorney. Anyone in removal proceedings can be represented by counsel, but the government will not provide one at public expense. Representation changes outcomes: legal fees for removal defense commonly run into the tens of thousands, and people with lawyers succeed at far higher rates than those without.

Officers are supposed to inform you of these rights during processing. Encounters move quickly and the environment is stressful, which is why knowing the rights beforehand matters more than being told about them in the moment.

What Happens After an Arrest

After an arrest, ERO places people into one of several facility types: Service Processing Centers owned by the federal government, Contract Detention Facilities run by private companies, or beds rented from county jails through intergovernmental agreements. Detention standards require access to medical care, telephones, legal materials, and visitation. Detained people can keep a reasonable amount of personal property, including religious items, legal documents, prescription glasses, and up to ten photographs, with each facility setting its own limits on quantity.⁷

Immigration Bonds

Not everyone arrested stays locked up. Federal law allows release on a bond of at least $1,500, with conditions set by immigration authorities.⁴ Bonds are often set well above the minimum based on flight risk and community ties. You can pay a bond directly to ICE or use a private bond agent, who typically charges a non-refundable fee of 15% to 20% of the bond amount. Some detainees are not eligible for bond at all, including those with aggravated felony convictions and those subject to mandatory detention.

Alternatives to Detention

ERO does not physically hold everyone on its docket. The Intensive Supervision Appearance Program keeps people in the community under monitoring instead. More than 179,000 people were enrolled as of October 2024.² Monitoring ranges from a smartphone app called SmartLINK, which uses facial recognition to verify check-ins along with GPS and secure messaging, to a dedicated agency-issued device for people without personal phones, to a SmartBAND GPS ankle bracelet as the most restrictive option. Participants must still appear for every scheduled hearing and check-in. Violating the terms can send someone back into physical custody.

Fighting or Delaying a Removal Order

A final order of removal does not always mean immediate deportation. Two tools matter most.

Stay of Removal

Anyone under a final removal order can file Form I-246 asking ERO to pause the removal while the request is considered. The application must be filed in person at the local ERO field office and carries a non-refundable processing fee of $155. Applicants submit identity documents, a personal statement, police reports for any arrests, and medical documentation if the stay is health-related. If approved, the person may be placed on an Order of Supervision and required to post a bond of at least $1,500.⁸ Denials are common and rest largely with the Field Office Director’s discretion.

Motion to Reopen

A motion to reopen asks the immigration court to revisit a case based on new facts or changed circumstances. The general deadline is 90 days after the judge’s final order.⁹ Exceptions exist for changed country conditions, orders entered when the person was absent from a hearing, and joint motions agreed to by both sides. A successful motion can vacate the removal order and put the person back into proceedings where they can present new claims for relief.

Voluntary Departure

Voluntary departure lets someone leave the country without the full legal consequences of a formal removal order. An immigration judge can grant it before or at the start of proceedings, allowing up to 120 days to depart, with a bond at the judge’s discretion. At the conclusion of proceedings, the maximum drops to 60 days, a bond of at least $500 is mandatory, and the applicant must show one year of physical presence and five years of good moral character.¹⁰ People convicted of aggravated felonies or deportable on terrorism grounds are not eligible at either stage.

The advantage is avoiding the re-entry bars that follow a formal removal order. The risk is steep. Anyone who accepts voluntary departure and then fails to leave by the deadline faces automatic conversion to a removal order, a civil penalty between $1,000 and $5,000, and a 10-year bar from most forms of immigration relief, including adjustment of status and cancellation of removal.¹⁰ Missing that deadline is among the most costly mistakes in immigration law.

How ERO Actually Deports Someone

A final order means nothing if the destination country will not take the person back. Repatriation officers collect biographical documents such as birth certificates, national identity cards, and military records, then send them along with fingerprints and photographs to the foreign consulate to request travel documents. Once a passport or emergency travel certificate is issued, the timing of the removal flight has to be tight because the certificates expire quickly.

Ground transfers by secure bus move people from detention to staging areas or airports. ICE Air Operations runs the flights on chartered and government-owned aircraft staged in Arizona, Texas, Louisiana, and Florida.¹¹ Charter flights carry large groups to a single destination with specialized crew and medical staff. High-risk charter flights run as needed for security cases or those who have failed prior removal attempts. For individual removals, ERO buys commercial airline tickets and may assign an officer to escort the person to the destination. On arrival, officers coordinate a formal handoff to foreign authorities and update the case file to mark the order executed.

Reinstatement After Illegal Re-Entry

Someone who re-enters the country illegally after a prior removal faces a much shorter process. An immigration officer can reinstate the original removal order without any new hearing before a judge, provided the officer confirms three things: the prior removal, the person’s identity, and the unlawful re-entry.¹² The person receives written notice and can contest the determination orally or in writing, but is not entitled to a hearing.

How Long You Are Barred From Coming Back

Formal removal triggers an automatic bar on returning, and the length depends on the circumstances.

Five years for individuals removed through expedited removal or as arriving travelers.¹³
Ten years for those removed under other provisions, including standard proceedings before an immigration judge.¹³
Twenty years for those removed two or more times.¹³
Permanent for anyone removed who has also been convicted of an aggravated felony, regardless of whether the conviction led to the removal.¹³

During the bar period, a person is legally inadmissible. Coming back before the bar expires, even with a valid visa, means denial at the border and likely triggers the 20-year bar for a second removal.

There is a narrow way back. Filing Form I-212, Application for Permission to Reapply for Admission, asks DHS to waive the bar. The filing fee is $1,175.¹⁴ Approval is discretionary, and the applicant must still separately qualify for whatever visa or benefit they are seeking. Voluntary departure, by contrast, avoids these re-entry bars entirely because no removal order is entered, which is why immigration attorneys push for it whenever it is available.

1
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Enforcement and Removal Operations
2
Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Alternatives to Detention
3
Congress.gov. S.5 – Laken Riley Act 119th Congress (2025-2026)
4
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1226 – Apprehension and Detention of Aliens
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1357 – Powers of Immigration Officers and Employees
6
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Immigration Detainers
7
Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Funds and Personal Property
8
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Application for a Stay of Deportation or Removal
9
United States Department of Justice. Motions to Reopen
10
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1229c – Voluntary Departure
11
Immigration and Customs Enforcement. ICE Air Operations
12
eCFR. 8 CFR 1241.8 – Reinstatement of Removal Orders
13
U.S. Department of State. Ineligibility Based on Previous Removal and Unlawful Presence in the United States
14
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. G-1055 Fee Schedule