ICE Detainers at Rikers Island: Rapid Response Guide
ICE Detainers at Rikers Island: Rapid Response Guide
When ICE places a detainer on someone at Rikers Island, everything changes in an instant. That piece of paper transforms a regular criminal case into an immigration nightmare — and most people dont understand whats actually happening until its too late. An ICE detainer, formally known as Form I-247A, is a request from Immigration and Customs Enforcement asking the New York City Department of Correction to hold someone for an additional 48 hours after they would normally be released. But heres what they dont tell you: that 48-hour clock starts ticking the moment a judge orders your release, sets bail, or dismisses charges. Not when you actually walk out. Not when your family posts bond. The moment that judge bangs the gavel, ICE is already preparing to take custody.
The mechanics of how this works at Rikers are deliberately confusing. After the 2014 changes to NYC’s cooperation policies, NYPD stopped honoring ICE detainers for most people – but the Department of Correction still does in certain circumstances. When someones processed into Rikers, their fingerprints go through multiple databases including the FBI’s Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System. If theres a hit showing previous deportation, outstanding removal order, or certain criminal convictions, ICE gets notified automatically.
They then have 48 hours to lodge a detainer.
Once that detainers in the system, it appears on the inmates record, and every corrections officer can see it. The DOC’s Inmate Lookup Service even shows detainer information to the public,which means your family might find out about your immigration issues before you do.Everything changes the moment a criminal court judge orders your release.Maybe you pled guilty to disorderly conduct and got time served. Maybe your case was dismissed. Maybe your family scraped together bail money. Doesn’t matter — if theres an ICE detainer, your not going home. Instead, you go to a separate holding area at Rikers where ICE agents pick people up. The handoff happens at specific times, usually early morning, and the bus route from Rikers to ICE’s Varick Street facility takes about 90 minutes through Queens and over the Triborough Bridge. During that ride, youre in federal custody, your criminal case is over, and your immigration case has begun. Your family might be waiting outside 100 Centre Street expecting you to walk out,while you’re already halfway to an immigration detention center.
The legal landscape around ICE detainers at Rikers shifts constantly, and three major battles are playing out right now. First, federal lawsuits are challenging whether holding someone solely on an ICE detainer violates the Fourth Amendment. Federal courts in other jurisdictions have said yes — detainers arent warrants, theyre just requests, and holding someone without probable cause is unconstitutional. But the Second Circuit hasnt ruled definitively, so Rikers keeps doing it. Second,mayoral executive orders keep changing based on political pressure. Mayor Adams’ current policy says DOC will honor detainers for people convicted of certain serious crimes or who have outstanding criminal warrants. But that list of “serious crimes” includes things like shoplifting if you have prior convictions,and the definition keeps expanding.Third, theres the ongoing fight about whether NYC has to notify ICE about release dates at all. The city says they dont actively tell ICE when someones getting out, but ICE has other ways of finding out – court calendars are public, bail information is public, and ICE has agents who monitor criminal court proceedings.
The rules change literally week to week, and what was true when you got arrested might not be true when youre ready to get released.
The people getting caught in this system arent who you’d expect. We’re seeing green card holders who’ve lived here 30 years get detainers because of convictions from the 1990s that suddenly pop up in the database. Under current immigration law, many drug offenses and crimes involving moral turpitude can trigger deportation proceedings — even if you already served your sentence decades ago. DACA recipients arrested for jumping a turnstile find out their protected status means nothing once theyre in criminal custody. The USCIS guidelines say DACA recipients who are arrested may have their status terminated, and any interaction with the criminal justice system can trigger review.Asylum seekers whose cases have been pending for years suddenly face expedited removal because a disorderly conduct arrest puts them on ICE’s radar. Once you’re in the system, all your past immigration history becomes relevant – every entry, every visa overstay, every application you filed.And heres the part that breaks families: parents of US citizen children who get arrested for driving without a license end up in removal proceedings, with their kids in foster care because no one knew to make arrangements during that 48-hour window.
Theres a period after ICE takes custody that most attorneys dont understand.
First 24 hours: ICE processes you at Varick Street or 26 Federal Plaza, takes biometrics, reviews your immigration history, and decides whether to put you in removal proceedings. If you have certain criminal convictions or prior deportations, you might get charged as an aggravated felon with no bond eligibility. Second 24 hours: You’ll either stay at Varick or get transferred to Hudson County Jail, Bergen County Jail, or Orange County Correctional Facility. Your phone access gets limited to collect calls at $15 for 15 minutes. Third 24 hours: If your attorney files an emergency habeas corpus petition in SDNY or EDNY federal court, you might get a bond hearing before an immigration judge. But if that window passes,you could sit in detention for weeks before seeing a judge.
During this time,your criminal defense attorney probably doesnt know where you are, your family is calling Rikers getting told you were released, and the consulate phone number you memorized doesn’t work on weekends. Someone on the outside needs to know exactly what to do — file a G-28 appearance form, request a custody redetermination hearing, and get power of attorney documents signed through the detention centers video visitation system before you get transferred upstate.
The defense strategies that work require coordination between your criminal lawyer and immigration lawyer before your criminal case ends,which almost never happens because people dont realize they need both. If you know ICE has a detainer, your criminal attorney needs to fight for specific dispositions that wont trigger deportation.
A plea to disorderly conduct violation instead of assault.A 364-day sentence instead of 365 days.An adjournment in contemplation of dismissal instead of a guilty plea.
These tiny differences in criminal court determine whether youre deportable or not. Your criminal lawyer also needs to file preemptive motions – a motion to vacate the detainer as illegally lodged, a motion for immediate release upon posting bail, a motion directing DOC not to hold you beyond your release time. Most criminal attorneys don’t know these motions exist. Theyre focused on getting you out on the criminal case, not thinking about what happens after.And if you’re already at Rikers with a detainer, you need someone filing FOIL requests for your DOC records, preparing an immigration bond motion with community ties evidence, and getting letters from employers and religious leaders — all while youre locked up with limited phone access.
Your family on the outside has more power than they realize, but they need to move fast and smart. First thing: get power of attorney signed through Rikers video visit system so someone can access bank accounts, tax returns, and employment records. ICE bond hearings require proof of financial resources,and you cant gather that from inside. Second: pull every document showing ties to the US – kids birth certificates, mortgage statements, pay stubs, medical records showing ongoing treatment. The immigration judge wants to see youre not a flight risk. Third: contact the consulate of your home country immediately. Some consulates (Mexico, Dominican Republic, Ecuador) have units dedicated to helping detained nationals and will send representatives to Rikers. Others are useless. Fourth: hire both a criminal attorney AND an immigration attorney who talk to each other. Two separate lawyers who dont coordinate will destroy your case.Fifth: set up a system for regular money deposits. Phone calls from detention cost a fortune, commissary is the only way to get decent food, and youll need funds for copying legal documents. Sixth: if theres children involved, get family court orders sorted immediately. ICE wont care that your kids need you — you need legal documentation showing custody arrangements.
The intersection of criminal and immigration law at Rikers Island is a catastrophe for thousands of New Yorkers.
The city keeps changing its policies, ICE keeps finding new ways to identify people, and families keep getting torn apart by a system that moves too fast for most lawyers to keep up with. The difference between freedom and deportation might be a single phone call to the right lawyer, a motion filed before 5 PM, or knowing which judge is on duty for emergency applications. At Spodek Law Group, we’ve handled hundreds of these cases — we know which ICE officers will negotiate, which judges grant emergency stays, and which detention centers let attorneys visit after hours. We have immigration attorneys on speed dial, translators who work weekends, and paralegals who know how to get documents from Rikers records office when they claim theyre “too busy.” We understand that when someone you love is facing deportation, you dont have time for lawyers who are learning on the job. You need attorneys whos walked this path before and know every shortcut, every argument, every last-minute filing that might keep your family together.