Legal Question in Immigration Law in New York

Re: How long is immigration allowed to hold people at the airport?

Without knowing the reasons for why your mother is being held by Immigration and Customs (ICE) at the airport, it is impossible to say exactly how long she might be detained for. In some cases aliens, including lawful permanent residents, may be detained without bond, but more often ICE refers arriving aliens to a hearing. In some extreme cases, aliens may be deported immediately.

It is important to know exactly what is happening to your mother, whether she is being refused admission into the U.S., put into removal (deportation) proceedings or expedited removal or offered voluntary removal and why. Some of the possible explanations for why your mother may be having difficulty passing inspection at the airport may include allegations by ICE that she attempted entry with fraudulent documents, committed other immgiration-related fraud, was convicted for a crime before or due to security-relted issues.

Mistakes do occur, especially if the detainee's name matches another person's name in the IBIS, NCIC or NAILS databases. It is therefore important for anyone detained at the airport to communicate clearly with ICE officials, explain why he or she believes a mistake has been made and insist on an opportunity to contact the family in the U.S. One should ask to speak to a supervisor to clear up the matter if it looks like the inspector does not believe the authenticity of the documents or misunderstands some essential facts.

Until your mother is actually out of the secondary inspection, she has few, if any, rights at the airport detention facility and is generally not entitled to an attorney at that point. She may then be released and requested to appear for a deferred inspection at the local ICE office at a later point when she is likely to be served with a Notice to Appear in the Immigration Court. If this is the case, she will have an opportunity to retain an immigration attorney to represent her in a removal proceeding. If she is not released then due to a perceived security or flight risk and is instead transported to an ICE detention facility, she should be given an opportunity to contact you at some point and you can then contact an attorney.

This may not provide you a lot of comfort but until your mother has something in writing from ICE charging her with a specific immigration violation, there is not much that can be done to stop the process.

The above reply is in the nature of general information, is not legal advice and should not be relied upon as such.

Re: How long is immigration allowed to hold people at the airport?

Mr. Frankel gave an excellant answer and I would like to add only that the probability that racial issues played a part is low because the INS personnel picked out the female member and not the male. They are much more likely to target the male if they are imposing heightened scrutiny on persons on the basis of color or ethnic backround.

Mr. Frankel was right. Your first job is to find out the basis of the temporary detention. Go to the INS office where she was taken and ask to speak withn a supervisor and ask for some idea of what is happening on 'humanitarian grounds' - she is your mother and you are worried.

Find that out anmd then speak with a lawyer immediately. These things can happen quickly.

I am available for a consultation for no fee.