Criminal Defense Lawyers

ICE Arrested My Husband at Work Today

ICE Arrested My Husband at Work Today

Your husband left for work this morning like any other day. Now you’ve gotten the call that ICE took him. Maybe a coworker called you. Maybe your husband managed to call from a holding cell. Maybe you just know something’s wrong because he hasn’t come home and isn’t answering his phone. Here’s the first thing you need to understand: the clock started ticking the moment they put him in custody. Within 24 to 48 hours, your husband could be moved to any one of nearly 200 detention facilities across the country. He could end up in a different state. A different time zone. Hundreds or thousands of miles away. And if he signs certain papers before you find him, he might be deported before you ever get the chance to fight.

Welcome to Spodek Law Group. We handle immigration and deportation cases regularly, including cases were families are separated by ICE enforcement actions with no warning. The second thing you need to understand is this: the question isnt “where is my husband.” The question is “what has he signed.” Because in the chaos of an arrest, detainees are often pressured to sign documents. One of those documents might be “voluntary departure” – and signing it can mean immediate deportation and a multi-year bar on returning to the United States. Your husband might think hes making things easier. In reality, hes giving up his right to fight.

Heres something most people dont realize until its too late. Being married to a U.S. citizen does NOT protect your husband from detention or deportation. Marriage creates a potential path to legal status – but it dosent create immunity from enforcement. ICE can still arrest him. ICE can still detain him. ICE can still deport him. The fact that your a citizen and you have children together and youve built a life together? That matters to you. It has minimal legal weight in the system thats now controlling his fate.

Finding Your Husband – The ICE Locator System

Heres where to start. ICE operates something called the Online Detainee Locator System – the ODLS. You can access it at locator.ice.gov/odls. This is the official government database that shows were detained individuals are being held.

To search, youll need either his Alien Registration Number (the A-number on immigration documents) or his full name, country of birth, and date of birth. The information must be exactly accurate – even minor discrepancies can prevent the system from finding him.

But heres the irony that makes this urgent. It takes 24 to 48 hours for a detained person to appear in the locator system. During that window, he could be transferred to another facility. He could be moved across the country. The locator tells you were he is now – but if hes already been moved, thats old information.

If you cant find him in the online system, contact the ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations field office for your area. If you know the local jail were he was taken, call them directly. Ask if ICE has placed a detainer. Ask if hes been transferred to federal custody. Ask which facility hes being sent to.

Time matters here. The longer you wait, the harder it becomes to find him – and the greater the chance that he signs something that destroys his case.

The Warrant Question Nobody Asks

Heres something critical that determines everything about how the arrest happened and what rights were violated. There are two completly different types of warrants ICE uses, and most people dont know the difference.

Administrative warrants are issued by ICE itself – no judge involved. These are Form I-200 (Warrant for Arrest of Alien) and Form I-205 (Warrant of Removal/Deportation). Heres what matters: administrative warrants do NOT authorize ICE to enter a home without consent. If ICE agents came into your house with only an administrative warrant, they may have violated your husbands constitutional rights.

Judicial warrants are issued by a federal judge or magistrate. These require probable cause that a crime has been committed. If ICE had a judicial warrant, they had legal authority to enter and arrest.

The distinction matters for your case. If your husband was arrested at work, in a public space, the warrant type probly dosent affect the legality of the arrest. But if ICE came to your home and entered without consent and without a judicial warrant, that might be a constitutional violation your attorney can use.

Ask your husband – if you can reach him – what happened. Did they come to the house? Did they enter? Did he or anyone else consent to entry? Did they show paperwork? What did the paperwork look like? The answers affect your legal options.

The Voluntary Departure Trap

Heres the most dangerous thing that can happen in the first hours after arrest. Your husband gets pressured to sign voluntary departure papers.

Voluntary departure sounds reasonable. It sounds cooperative. ICE officers might present it as “the easy way” or “better for everyone.” What they dont explain is what signing actually means.

If your husband signs voluntary departure:

• He can be removed from the United States immediatly
• He waives his right to a hearing before an immigration judge
• He waives his right to apply for relief from deportation
• He may be subject to a multi-year bar on returning to the United States
• His case is over before it ever started

The irony is devastating. Your husband might have had strong legal options – cancellation of removal, asylum, adjustment of status through your marriage. But by signing voluntary departure, he gives all that up. He cant fight if hes already agreed to leave.

This is why the urgency isnt just finding him. Its reaching him before he signs anything. Its getting an attorney involved before he waives rights he didnt know he had. If your husband has already signed voluntary departure, the situation is much more serious – but options may still exist if you act immediatly.

Bond Hearings – Who Gets One and Who Doesn’t

OK so once you find your husband, the next question is wheather he can get out while his case proceeds. This is were the system becomes brutal.

In many cases, detained individuals can request release on bond – money paid to guarantee they’ll appear at future court hearings. Bond amounts typically range from $1,500 to $25,000 or more, depending on flight risk and other factors.

But heres the uncomfortable truth nobody tells you upfront. Some people are in a category called “mandatory detention.” If your husband falls into this category, he has NO right to a bond hearing. No matter how long hes been married to you. No matter how many children you have together. No matter how deep his ties to the community.

Mandatory detention typically applies to:

• People with certain criminal convictions (including “aggravated felonies” which under immigration law includes many crimes that arnt actualy felonies)
• People with prior deportation orders
• People who reentered illegally after deportation
• People with certain terrorism-related charges

Heres the hidden connection that destroys families. Your husband might have a DUI from ten years ago. He served his time. He moved on. But that conviction can trigger mandatory detention today. Old criminal history can eliminate bond eligibility decades later. The system dosent care that he’s been a perfect citizen since then.

If your husband IS eligible for bond, the judge will consider several factors: likelihood of appearing at future hearings, danger to the community, ties to family and work and community. But you typically only get ONE bond hearing. If you rush into it unprepared and bond is denied, you may not get another chance.

The 48-Hour Rule and Why It Matters

Heres something about the process that affects what happens next. ICE often dosent make arrests directly. Instead, they issue what’s called a detainer – a request to local law enforcement to hold someone for up to 48 hours beyond their normal release date so ICE can take custody.

Think about what that means. Your husband might have been arrested for something minor by local police. He might have been released already – except ICE filed a detainer requesting the jail hold him for 48 more hours. During that window, ICE decides wheather to take him into federal immigration custody.

The 48-hour rule now includes weekends and holidays. So if your husband is being held on an ICE detainer, the clock is running even on Saturday and Sunday. If ICE dosent pick him up within 48 hours, the local jail is supposed to release him.

But heres the system revelation most people miss. Detainer requests are voluntary. Local law enforcement agencies arnt required to honor them. Some cities and states have policies that they wont hold people for ICE. Others cooperate fully. Depending on were your husband was arrested, the local jail might release him before ICE shows up – or they might hold him until transfer is complete.

If your husband is still in local custody on a detainer, time is critical. Once hes transferred to an ICE detention facility, everything becomes harder. Hes further from home. Communication becomes more difficult. The bureaucracy becomes more impenetrable. An attorney can sometimes intervene during the detainer period before federal transfer happens.

When Criminal History Changes Everything

Heres something that devastates families who thought they were safe. Criminal history from years or decades ago can completly change what happens in immigration proceedings.

Immigration law has its own definition of “aggravated felony” – and it dosent match what you think. Crimes that are misdemeanors under state law can be aggravated felonies under immigration law. A theft conviction from twenty years ago. A drug possession charge that was reduced to a misdemeanor. Crimes your husband served minimal time for can trigger mandatory detention and expedited removal today.

DUI is a perfect example. In most states, a first DUI is a misdemeanor. Your husband might have gotten probation, paid a fine, moved on. But depending on the specifics, that DUI can affect his immigration case in devastating ways. Multiple DUIs almost certainly will.

And heres the consequence cascade that unfolds. Old conviction triggers mandatory detention → no bond hearing possible → husband detained for months or years while case proceeds → loses job → family loses income → cant afford attorney → case goes poorly → deportation becomes final.

One old mistake can set off a chain reaction that tears apart everything youve built. This is why legal counsel is essential immediatly. An attorney needs to analyze your husbands complete criminal history and understand exactly how it affects his immigration situation.

The Detention Facility System You Never Knew Existed

Heres something that makes this situation even more terrifying. The United States operates nearly 200 immigration detention facilities across the country. When ICE takes your husband into custody, they can send him to any one of them.

Think about what that means. Your husband was arrested here, in your community, were you live. But ICE might transfer him to a facility in Texas. Or Louisiana. Or New Mexico. Hundreds or thousands of miles from home. From you. From his children. From anyone who could visit him or support him.

There is no rule requiring ICE to keep him near his family. Transfers are based on bed availability, facility capacity, and operational convenience. Your husbands connection to this community – the exact thing that should help his case – has no weight in where they house him.

And heres the consequence cascade that unfolds when hes transferred far away. You cant visit easily. Communication becomes phone calls with strict limitations. His attorney – if he has one – may have to travel hundreds of miles or find local co-counsel. The immigration court handling his case might be in a different jurisdiction then were hes detained. Everything becomes harder. Everything becomes more expensive. Everything becomes more isolating.

The detention facilities themselves arnt prisons – technicaly. Immigration detention is civil, not criminal. But that distinction is meaningless to the person inside. The facilities look like prisons. They operate like prisons. Your husband is locked in a cell, subject to institutional rules, with limited communication with the outside world. The “civil” nature of his detention dosent make it feel any less like punishment.

Some detention facilities are operated directly by ICE. Others are run by private corporations under contract with the federal government. Still others are local jails that rent bed space to ICE. Conditions vary widley. Access to medical care varies. Access to legal resources varies. Your husband has no control over were hes sent or what conditions hell face when he gets there.

Why Timing Matters More Than You Think

Heres something about immigration enforcement that most people dont understand until theyre living it. Immigration cases can take months. Or years. And if your husband is in mandatory detention, he could be locked up the entire time.

Think about what that means for your family. Months without income from his job. Months of trying to explain to children were daddy is. Months of legal fees accumulating. Months of your life on hold while bureaucracy grinds forward at its own pace.

The average immigration case takes somewhere between several months and several years to resolve. During that entire time, if your husband dosent make bond – or isnt eligible for bond – he sits in detention. He cant work. He cant contribute to the family. He cant be present for his childrens lives. Hes simply… gone.

And heres the cruel irony. Even if your husband has a strong case for relief from deportation – even if he ultimatly wins and gets to stay – he might spend a year or more in detention getting to that outcome. The system dosent release him while it considers his case. The system holds him until it decides.

This is why early legal intervention matters so much. Every day without an attorney is a day your husband might be making decisions that hurt his case. Every week without a strategy is a week closer to a bond hearing you arnt prepared for. The longer you wait to act, the fewer options you have – and the longer he stays locked up.

The Immigration Court System You’re About to Enter

Heres something most people dont realize until theyre in it. Immigration court is completly different from criminal court. The rules are different. The rights are different. The outcomes are different.

In criminal court, you have a constitutional right to an attorney. If you cant afford one, the government provides one. In immigration court, you have a right to an attorney – but the government will NOT pay for one. If you cant afford a lawyer, you represent yourself against trained government prosecutors. Statistics show that detained individuals without attorneys lose there cases at dramatically higher rates.

Immigration judges handle massive caseloads. Your husbands case is one of thousands. The system is not designed to help him. Its designed to process him. Without an attorney advocating for his rights, navigating the procedural requirements, and presenting his case effectively, hes at an enormous disadvantage.

And heres the uncomfortable truth about outcomes. Being a good person dosent help much. Being a good father dosent help much. Being a hard worker who pays taxes and has never been in trouble dosent help much. Immigration law is mechanical. Either you qualify for relief or you dont. Either you meet the statutory requirements or you dont. Character evidence matters less then you think.

What You Should Do Right Now

If ICE arrested your husband at work today, heres exactly what you should do:

Find him immediatly. Use the ICE Online Detainee Locator System at locator.ice.gov/odls. Call the local jail were he was likely taken. Contact the ICE field office for your area. Dont wait to see if he calls you. Start searching now.

Get word to him: DO NOT SIGN ANYTHING. If you can reach him by phone, if you can get a message through, tell him not to sign any papers without talking to an attorney first. Especially anything about “voluntary departure.” Signing away his rights is the biggest danger in the first 48 hours.

Gather documents. Find any immigration papers you have – visa documents, work permits, any correspondence with immigration authorities. Find his A-number if possible. Find records of his time in the United States – tax returns, lease agreements, utility bills, anything showing his ties to the community.

Do NOT contact ICE to explain the situation. Do not call ICE to tell them your husband is a good person. Do not try to argue his case yourself. Anything you say can be used. Let your attorney handle all communication.

Hire an immigration attorney immediatly. Not a general practice lawyer. Someone who handles immigration detention and deportation cases. Your attorney can contact the detention facility, determine your husbands status, intervene before he waives his rights, and start building a defense.

Todd Spodek tells every family in this situation the same thing: the first 48 hours are the most dangerous. Your husband is scared, confused, and being pressured to sign things he dosent understand. Getting legal counsel to him before he makes irreversible decisions is the single most important thing you can do.

Call Spodek Law Group at 212-300-5196. Before your husband signs anything. Before hes transferred to a facility across the country. Before the 48-hour window closes.

That call from your husbands workplace changed everything. What happens next depends on what you do right now.