An ICE arrest is fast, disorienting and, for most people, the first contact with the system. The decisions made in the first hours matter more than anything that follows, and they are made without a lawyer present. This piece sets out what the law provides and what the forms do.
What to say
The Fifth Amendment right to silence covers everyone in the United States, regardless of status. It has to be invoked out loud, in words: "I am exercising my right to remain silent." "I want a lawyer." Silence alone is not enough; an officer may keep asking.
There is no duty to answer questions about your place of birth, your citizenship, when you entered or what your status is. The National Immigration Law Center's advice is blunter than most: do not carry a foreign passport or consular identification, because it hands the government evidence of alienage it would otherwise have to prove.
The one exception is registration. A non-citizen who is registered and over 18 must carry the evidence of it, under a 1940 law now enforced. Producing that document when asked is not answering questions. Everything beyond it is.
What never to say
Never claim to be a United States citizen. A false claim of citizenship, for any purpose or benefit under federal or state law, makes a person inadmissible under INA 212(a)(6)(C)(ii) and deportable under 237(a)(3)(D), with no waiver available. It also carries up to three years in federal prison under 18 U.S.C. 911. Of all the mistakes a frightened person can make in a traffic stop, this is the one the law forgives least. Never present a false document; that is a separate crime.
What never to sign
Three forms matter.
Form I-826, Notice of Rights and Request for Disposition. Served at processing. Its disposition box either requests a hearing before a judge or accepts removal without one. The wrong box, signed under pressure, is a removal.
A stipulated removal order. Under 8 CFR 1003.25(b), a judge may enter a removal order with no hearing and neither party present, on a signed stipulation that admits every allegation, concedes removability, forgoes all relief, designates a country and waives appeal. It is presented as a way to go home quickly. It is a lifetime bar signed in an afternoon.
Voluntary departure. Leaving at your own expense without a removal order, which sounds benign. The unlawful presence bars still attach, and missing the departure deadline converts the grant into a removal order automatically.
Sign nothing you have not read in a language you understand, and nothing without a lawyer's advice.
A lawyer, a phone call, a number
Section 292 of the INA gives the right to counsel "at no expense to the Government." There is no appointed lawyer and no public defender in immigration proceedings. EOIR publishes a list of free legal service providers every quarter, and ICE's detention phones carry free, unmonitored speed-dial numbers to the organizations on it, posted by the phones and on tablets.
The A-number is the eight- or nine-digit alien registration number on every DHS and EOIR document. It is the key to everything a family will need to do: the detainee locator, the court hotline at [1-800-898-7180](tel:18008987180), the lawyer's file. Memorize it, and make sure someone outside has it.
The first 72 hours
Fingerprints and database checks come first. Under 8 CFR 287.3(d), within 48 hours of a warrantless arrest ICE must decide whether to keep the person in custody or release on bond or recognizance, and whether to issue a Notice to Appear. Three documents follow: the I-862 Notice to Appear, which starts proceedings before a judge; the I-286 custody determination; or, for those subject to it, the I-860 order of expedited removal.
Transfers between facilities and states are routine and often unannounced. The Online Detainee Locator, which covers adults only, is the way to track them.
The two-year rule
Since July 17, 2026, expedited removal applies nationwide to anyone who entered without inspection and cannot show an officer two years of continuous physical presence. This site followed the litigation from January through June; the D.C. Circuit's mandate issued on July 17 and a petition for rehearing was filed ten days later. For now the rule is in force.
Expedited removal is deportation without a judge, with a five-year bar. The way out of it is proof of two years, produced in custody rather than argued in the street: postmarked mail to a home address, a signed lease, utility bills, school and church records, pay stubs. And the other way out, for anyone with a genuine fear: say so. "I am afraid to return to my country" triggers a credible fear interview and takes the case out of the fast track.
What to do
- Say the two sentences: silent, lawyer. Then stop talking.
- Do not claim citizenship. Do not lie. Do not present false papers.
- Sign nothing.
- Give the A-number to someone outside, and the lawyer's number to the officer.
- If you have been here two years, have the proof ready to hand over. If you are afraid to return, say it clearly and early.
The system is designed to move quickly and to reward compliance in the first hours. The rights that slow it down exist, but only for the people who say them aloud.