In the heartbreaking event that someone you know has been detained by a federal immigration agent, you'll need to know what steps to take to locate them and hopefully, get some money on their books, and hopefully be able to advocate for them.
L.A. TACO has verified the following ways to help you find a loved one who a federal agency has detained.
If Your Loved One Has Been Detained By ICE or another federal agency:
--Make sure you know their full name, aliases, immigration status, and if they have one, their A-Number, which is short for "Alien Registration Number," a number given to registered non-citizens who receive certain government benefits. It is also important for you to know the history of your loved one's past contacts with the criminal justice system.
-Find out what detention center they're at on ICE's dystopically-named online detainee locator system. The URL is https://locator.ice.gov/odls/#/search. You can search by your loved one's A-Number. If you don't have that, you can search by name, birth date, and country they were born in.
-If and when you reach the detention center where your loved one is kept, ask how you can get some money on their books, which funds their trust account, and hopefully allows them to buy necessities, food, and items of comfort. There's little to buoy someone's spirits in confinement like knowing someone on the outside is looking out for you and thinking of you.
-Try to obtain the detainee's Notice to Appear (NTA) (Form I-862), which outlines the charges your loved one may be facing, which is crucial to know. Read it over carefully so you understand any potential court dates, and in case there's an error that could affect the case.
-Assuming there is one, find out The Immigration Court date. If you don't have that information, try calling the Immigration Court’s Toll Free Hotline at 800-898-7180. Or look it up on their website.
Reach out to your Congressperson:
-To find out who your representative in congress is, simply put your zip code into this website.
-In order to release details about their case, you or your loved one will need ICE Form 60-001, which authorizes their personal details to be disclosed to a third party. The detained person may be able to request one from the detention center's library. If that is not feasible, you can download it here and send it to them. You'll see that towards the top left, where it says "60-001.pdf," right below where it says "document file." We've circled it below to make it easy to see.
-You must then contact your Congressperson and tell them who that form has been given to at the detention center, in order for them to look into your loved one's case.
This information comes second-hand. Obviously there is a lot we don't know right now about how detainees are being treated or what they're allowed to do.
One thing we do know is that this will take some dogged effort on your part to communicate both to your loved one through the detention system and to your representative. But knowing someone is out there doing their best to help them will be a big boon to your loved one in allowing them to maintain hope as well as connection to someone they love.
