Featured Issue: Representing Clients Before ICE
This resource page combines resources for attorneys representing clients before ICE. For information about why AILA is calling for the reduction and phasing out of immigration detention, please see our Featured Issue Page: Immigration Detention and Alternatives to Detention.
Quick Links
- Seeking Stays of Removal
- AILA Practice Pointers and Alerts (continually updated)
- Practice Advisory: Representing Detained Clients in the Virtual Landscape
- Practice Pointer: How to Locate Clients Apprehended by ICE
- Practice Pointer: Preparing for an Order of Supervision Appointment with ICE-ERO
- AILA ICE Liaison Agenda and Meeting Minutes
Communicating with OPLA, ERO, and CROs
The Office of the Principal Legal Advisor (OPLA) includes 1300 attorneys who represent the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in immigration removal proceedings before the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR). OPLA litigates all removal cases as well as provides legal counsel to ICE personnel. At present, there are 25 field locations throughout the United States.
Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) manages all aspects of immigration enforcement from arrest, detention, and removal. ERO has 24 field office locations. ERO also manages an “alternative to detention” program that relies almost exclusively on the “Intensive Supervision Appearance Program (ISAP)” to monitor individuals in removal proceedings.
Since 2016, ICE has had an Office of Partnership and Engagement (formerly Office of Community Engagement) to be a link between the agency and stakeholders. As part of this office, Community Relations Officers (CROS) are assigned to every field office to work with local stakeholders such as attorneys and nonprofit organizations.
*Headquarters does not provide direct contact numbers or emails for individual employees.* (AILA Liaison Meeting with ICE on April 26, 2023)(AILA Doc. No. 23033004). However, attorneys can contact Chapter Local ICE Liaisons as they may have this information provided to them via local liaison engagement.
- DHS/ICE/OPLA Chief Counsel Contact Information [last updated in 2024, this list no longer appears on ICE.gov as of 1/27/25]
- Contact Information for Local OPLA Offices [last updated in 2024, this information no longer appears on ICE.gov as of 1/27/25]
- ERO Field Offices Contact Information*
- OPE Community Relations Officers
- ICE Check-In Scheduling Website
- ICE Online Change of Address Website
Latest on Enforcement Priorities & Prosecutorial Discretion
Executive Order 14159 (90 FR 8443, 1/29/25) directs DHS to set priorities that protect the public safety and national security interests of the American people, including by ensuring the successful enforcement of final orders of removal, enforcement of the INA and other Federal laws related to the illegal entry and unlawful presence of [noncitizens] in the United States and the enforcement of the purposes of this order. Given the January 25, 2025, confirmation of DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, a memorandum detailing enforcement priorities may be issued in the coming weeks.
An unpublished ICE memo from acting ICE Director Caleb Vitello entitled “Interim Guidance: Civil Immigration Enforcement Actions in or near Courthouses” makes reference to targeted noncitizens and includes:
- National security or public safety threats;
- Those with criminal convictions;
- Gang members;
- Those who have been ordered removed from the United States but have failed to depart; and/or
- Those who have re-entered the country illegally after being removed.
Procedures and email inboxes created under the Biden Administration to request Prosecutorial Discretion no longer appear on the ICE website. AILA members are encouraged to review current DOJ regulations entitled “Efficient Case and Docket Management in Immigration Proceedings” for alternative basis for seeking termination or administrative closure.
Access to Counsel
- ERO eFile:
- An online system developed to electronically file G-28s with ERO. Attorneys and accredited representatives may register for ERO eFile accounts and may also sponsor law students and law graduates who work under their supervision. See AILA’s practice alert (AILA Doc. No. 24051506) for more information.
- ICE Attorney Information and Resources Page
- AILA Practice Alert: Updates to the ICE Attorney Information and Resource Page
Filing Administrative Complaints on Behalf of Detained and Formerly Detained Clients
- Online Intake Form for the Detention Ombudsman (myOIDO)
- Available for complaints for issues in ICE and CBP Custody nationwide, including to submit complaints about access to counsel problems on behalf of currently or previously detained clients.
- Online Complaint Form for DHS Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL)
- Oversight of Immigration Detention: An Overview - May 16, 2022
(provides a list of agencies with which attorneys may file administrative complaints of detention center violations) - Immigration Judge Complaint Toolkit – August 31, 2022
- Practice Alert: Template for CRCL Complaint Regarding Failures to Provide Language Access – July 16, 2021
Selected ICE Policies and Current Status
For comprehensive comparison of current and prior ICE policies, please review the “Immigration Policy Tracker (IPTP).” The IPTP is a project of Professor Lucas Guttentag working with teams of Stanford and Yale law students and leading national immigration experts.
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Browse the Featured Issue: Representing Clients Before ICE collection
Overcoming the Reason to Believe Inadmissibility Ground: How to Prove a Negative
Join AILA's web seminar on March 11, 2025, from 2:00 to 3:30 PM ET, to learn strategies for overcoming the "reason to believe" inadmissibility ground. Expert panelists will provide legal arguments and advise on best practices used to overcome this ground of inadmissibility.
DHS Secretary Deputizes Certain DOS Officials as Immigration Officers
DHS announced in a statement that, on 2/18/25, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem signed a memorandum deputizing up to 600 special agents within the State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service across the United States to assist with arresting and deporting undocumented immigrants.
EOIR Issues Policy Memo on Access EOIR Initiative
EOIR Acting Director Sirce Owen issued Policy Memorandum (PM) 25-22 on re-establishing “appropriate, ethical, and lawful boundaries” for the Access EOIR Initiative.
2025 AILA Spring CLE Conference and Webcast
Register for the 2025 AILA Spring CLE Conference and Webcast on April 3–4, 2025, in Washington, D.C., or online. Gain insights from agency officials and AILA liaisons on the latest regulatory and policy initiatives affecting your practice and clients.
DHS Provides Fact Sheet on Immigration Services Program
DHS provided a fact sheet on the Science and Technology Directorate’s Immigration Services Program, which will support DHS in matters related to immigration custody, case processing, and removal operations, as well as seek to prevent immigration fraud, improve data management, and more.
ICE Issues Guidance on Stays of Removal and Private Immigration Bills
ICE Acting Director Caleb Vitello issued a policy directive (ICE Directive 5004.3) with guidance on stays of removal and private immigration bills. The guidance is effective immediately and remains in effect until superseded.
2025 AILA Hot Topics and Survival Skills Conference
Join the 2025 AILA Hot Topics and Survival Skills Conference on March 3–4, 2025. This virtual event offers tools to navigate challenges under the Trump administration, with sessions on removal, asylum, and business immigration, plus updates and strategies to strengthen your practice.
DHS Announces Ad Campaign Encouraging Self-Deportation and Discouraging Undocumented Migration
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem announced a domestic and international multimillion-dollar advertising campaign encouraging self-deportation and discouraging potential undocumented immigrants from coming to the United States.
Expedited Removal: Key Updates, Who Is Impacted, and How to Fight Back
This resource will provide updates and guidance on the new expansion of expedited removal.
EOIR Rescinds Memo on Revised Case Flow Processing Before the Immigration Courts
EOIR Acting Director Sirce Owen issued Policy Memorandum (PM) 25-21 rescinding and canceling the 12/16/21 Director’s Memorandum (DM) 22-04, which set a default filing deadline in non-detained cases of 15 days before individual calendar hearings.
CA8 Upholds Asylum Denial Where Algerian Petitioners’ Son with Disability Was Denied Medical Care
The court held that substantial evidence supported the BIA’s conclusion that the lack of medical treatment received by petitioners’ son with spina bifida arose from motives unrelated to persecution by the Algerian government, and thus upheld the denial of asylum. (Ferchichi v. Bondi, 2/14/25)
Practice Alert: New EOIR Policy Memoranda
Since January 20, 2025, EOIR has released various Policy Memoranda (PM). A list of the memoranda is published on the EOIR website. This practice alert is meant to give practitioners a sense of the content of each memo as well as the relevant link for further reading.
District Court Approves Class Action Settlement Agreement in Ms. L. v. ICE
The district court approved a class action settlement agreement in a lawsuit relating to families who were apprehended together by the U.S. government at the U.S.-Mexico border between 1/20/17 and 1/20/21, but were then separated and kept apart. (Ms. L., et al. v. ICE, et al., 12/1/23)
AILA Urges Members of Congress to Reject Agent Raul Gonzalez Officer Safety Act (H.R. 35)
AILA urges members of Congress to reject HR 35, and instead to enact solutions that ensure a more orderly, effective and fair immigration system.
CA1 Upholds Asylum Denial After Finding Petitioner’s Ex-Partner Was Motivated to Harm Her Based on Personal Issues
The court upheld the BIA’s conclusion that petitioner, whose particular social group (PSG) consisted of “Brazilian women who are victims of domestic violence,” did not show the requisite nexus between her proffered social group and any past or future harm. (Sanches Alves v. Bondi, 2/12/25)
CA9 Holds That BIA Erred in Finding Romanian Petitioners’ Harm Did Not Cumulatively Rise to Level of Past Persecution
The court found that the record compelled the conclusion that the petitioners’ past experiences collectively rose to the level of persecution, and that the BIA erred when it determined that the Roma ethnicity is not a disfavored group in Romania. (Lapadat v. Bondi, 2/12/25)
CA5 Finds It Lacked Jurisdiction to Review BIA’s Continuance Determination as to Cameroonian Petitioner
The court held that it lacked jurisdiction to review the BIA’s affirmance of the IJ’s denial of the petitioner’s motion to continue his removal proceedings based on his daughter’s then-pending I-130 petition, and upheld the BIA’s denial of his motion to remand. (Ikome v. Bondi, 2/12/25)
CA1 Finds BIA Did Not Depart from Its Settled Course of Adjudication in Denying Sua Sponte Reopening
The court rejected petitioner’s argument that BIA, in denying his motion to reopen, departed from its settled practice of granting sua sponte reopening whenever a conviction rendering a noncitizen removable is vacated due to a defect in the criminal proceedings. (Phimmady v. Bondi, 2/10/25)
CA9 Declines Government’s Request to Amend Case Caption Based on Rule 15(a)(2)(A)
The court held that Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 15(a)(2)(A)’s naming requirement is satisfied when a petitioner’s “A” number from the agency proceeding below appears in the caption or body of a petition for review. (Perez-Perez v. Bondi, 2/10/25)
Practice Alert: Changes to Virtual Service in Recent EOIR Policy Manual Updates
EOIR issued changes to the immigration court practice manual that have significant implications on service of OPLA.
EOIR Rescinds Memo on Language Access in Immigration Court
EOIR Acting Director Sirce Owen issued Policy Memorandum (PM) 25-20 rescinding and canceling the 6/6/23 Director’s Memorandum (DM) 23-02, which provided guidance to IJs regarding language access issues in immigration court proceedings.
CA8 Upholds Denial of Asylum Where Petitioners’ Persecutor Was Later Murdered
The court upheld the BIA’s denial of asylum as to the mother and daughter petitioners from Mexico, where the mother had experienced while pregnant a physical assault by her cousin, who was later murdered, but no harm had come to her daughter in utero. (Becerril-Sanchez v. Bondi, 2/6/25)
Featured Issue: Practicing under the New Trump Administration
This page curates resources from AILA and other organizations that members may find helpful as they adapt to practicing under the new Trump Administration.
EOIR Issues Memo on Re-Establishing a Robust Anti-Fraud Program
EOIR Acting Director Sirce Owen issued Policy Memorandum (PM) 25-19 stating that EOIR is committed to re-establishing a robust and effective Anti-Fraud Program that will provide resources to employees on how to identify and report suspected fraud, coordinate with investigative authorities, and more.
DOJ Issues Memo on Sanctuary Jurisdiction Directives
Attorney General Pamela Bondi issued a memo on sanctuary jurisdiction directives, stating that sanctuary jurisdictions should not receive access to federal grants administered by the DOJ, among other things.