Delia de la Garza's Legal Blog

Living and working in Harris, Montgomery and other surrounding counties, I have become accustomed to clients in county jail facilities being held due to an immigration hold.  In Harris county, ICE has an officer assigned to interview detainees and figure out their immigration status, whether they are US citizens, lawful permanent residents or have no legal status at all.  Often, some LPR’s and others without status are not released if they have an “immigration hold” despite the fact that most can and do pay the bond in their case which was set by the criminal court judge.  In Travis County, this will now become the norm.  The Travis county Sheriff, Greg Hamilton, has just signed an agreement to allow ICE to put an officer in the Travis county jail 24/7 with their stated intent to put “holds” on every immigrant, legal or not, to review their status.  If you or a family member is on an immigration hold, it is important to note that they will usually be held in detention until the end of their criminal case and then transferred to ICE custody to determine whether they will be place in removal proceedings.  While some, may qualify for a bond from an immigration judge at that point, they will have to wait until then.