I recently received a telephone call from somebody who had overstayed his visa and learned that ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) was looking for him. They went to his place of employment, but he was not at work at the time. He wanted to know what to do.
He should go to an immigration lawyer right away. He is going to want someone to help arrange his surrender to ICE. If he is a bondable alien, and most people who have not committed serious criminal offenses are, then he is much more likely to get a reasonable bond if he turns himself in. One of the most important factors for an Immigration Judge to consider when granting bond is whether or not the person poses a risk of flight. If the person turned himself in, there is a very good argument to be made that he is not a flight risk. What is more, if you turn yourself in with a lawyer, there exists a possibility of negotiating a bond with the Deportation Officer and avoiding the bond hearing before an Immigration Judge altogether. If bond can be obtained administratively, that is a huge advantage. After all, it always takes at least a couple of weeks to get a bond hearing.
The other advantage to getting into a lawyer’s office right away is that it gives you the opportunity to start to prepare for your bond hearing and to prepare your defense before you are detained. Starting representation of a client who is already in immigration detention is a challenging and frustrating matter. It is very difficult to talk to the client. They cannot meet me in my office. What is more, I cannot simply call them on the telephone every time I have a question.
What is more, getting documents is a problem. Maybe the client has a friend or a family member who can go to his home and search for things that the lawyer needs. Maybe not. Maybe he does not want anyone going through all his things looking for documents. Maybe his friends are not so good at figuring out what the lawyer might need. I recently had a case where my client was detained and did have friends who could go look for things, but they simply were not bringing me the things that I needed. Finally, I told them just go and bring me every piece of paper that this guy has, and I will figure out what is important and what is not. It would be nice if you could go to the lawyer’s office to arrange your surrender; have a conversation with the lawyer about what your defenses are going to be, and go home and search for material to give to the lawyer.
One of the most frustrating things about representing a person in immigration detention is that they are always anxious to get out of detention. They want to have their bond hearing yesterday. However, a person in detention is only entitled to one bond hearing. So the lawyer has to balance the client’s anxiousness to get out of detention, with the lawyer’s need to prepare properly for the bond hearing. A lawyer will be prepared more quickly if you have already met with the lawyer before you were detained. Not only will this expedite obtaining documents, but it will enable you to fill out the necessary forms for the lawyer, some of which can be quite involved. For example, if your defense is going to be Cancellation of Removal, there are questions about your family, all the places where you lived in the United States, and all the places where you worked in the United States, which include dates. If you are not careful with these dates, your time line may fall apart. Maybe the Immigration Judge will give you a break because sometimes it is hard to keep dates straight. More likely, the Immigration Judge will think you are a liar and deny the claim. So it would be good to meet at the lawyer’s office; fill in the forms with the lawyer and carefully review the document preparation process. As issues arise in the timeline, the two of you can address it right there.
In addition, things go quicker if authorizations are already signed and document requests already sent before you are detained. For example, one thing that the attorney is always going to need in advance of a bond hearing is your CORI Report. Obviously, it is better for your lawyer to request your CORI before you are detained rather than after. Delay is common where you are trying to hire a lawyer while detained. First of all, you are not the one doing the hiring. Generally speaking, you are sending a relative or friend to the laywer’s office to hire the lawyer. As a result, the lawyer’s first impression of the case is formed by asking questions of third parties who do not necessarily know the answers. I think it is fair to say that I have never had a third party correctly answer my questions when the deportation case was based upon the criminal acts of my client. What is more, your friends and relatives cannot sign the authorizations. You must sign the CORI request form. Requests to your school or employer or the court or the police or probation or to the community service organization you volunteered for or the US embassy of the country from which you are seeking asylum or to what ever other person the lawyer needs information from must be signed by you. As a result, the lawyer has to come see you. The lawyer then needs to return to the office and send out all of these requests to the various people who will later respond. Obviously, it is much quicker if the process is simply you go see the lawyer. You sign the lawyer’s forms. The lawyer mails them out. You and the lawyer go see the ICE agent, and by the time the case goes to the Immigration Court, the lawyer’s document requests have been responded to, and the lawyer can hold a bond hearing immediately.
If ICE is looking for you, or if you think ICE might be looking for you, now or in the future, the best thing to do is contact an immigration attorney. Understand that if you flee, there is little hope of getting bond if you are ever caught. However, if you turn yourself in, you are enhancing your chances of getting bond either initially or at the bond hearing. What is more, by going directly to the attorney’s office, whether you turn yourself in or not, you have the opportunity to get the ball rolling on your defenses and on your bond motion, even before you are detained.
I hope in future blog posts to discuss the remainder of the immigration court process, including bond issues and the various defenses to removal.