Immigration
My relative was detained by ICE. How do I find them?
Search ICE’s locator with a name and country of birth, call the facility or field office, and have a lawyer look at the bond question quickly.
Search ICE’s Online Detainee Locator System with your relative’s full name and country of birth, plus an A-number or a date of birth. If it shows nothing, call the ICE office in Miramar, whose listed territory is all of Florida, or the facility itself. In South Florida the detention centers are Krome, in western Miami-Dade County, and the Broward Transitional Center in Pompano Beach. The immigration court is a different agency, and it decides the case. Whether your relative can ask for release on bond depends on the legal basis for the detention and on their history, and federal courts have disagreed about that since September 2025. Jose A. Dapena can look at the paperwork and tell you which path applies.
01 Finding them
How do I find a relative who was detained by ICE?
Use ICE’s Online Detainee Locator System. ICE built it so that family members and attorneys can locate a person detained by ICE online, at any hour. It asks for the person’s full name, country of birth, and either an A-number or a date of birth (ICE fact sheet on the locator). The A-number is a registration number that immigration agencies assign to a person’s file, and it often appears on notices and cards they issue. If your relative has any immigration paper at home, look for it there.
If the locator shows nothing, call. ICE’s own fact sheet says to contact the appropriate ICE field office when a detained person cannot be found. The listing for the Miramar office gives (954) 843-5800 and a territory of Florida, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, so a family in Tampa calls the same office as a family in Homestead (ICE field offices, page updated September 2, 2026). A person can be moved from one place to another, so check again.
Have the details ready. The staff will ask for the full name, any other names the person uses, date of birth and country of birth. ICE’s Krome page says a Form G-28, the notice that a lawyer represents the person, must be on file before it discloses information to a representative.
Three facts find most people: the full name, the country of birth, and the A-number if you can find it.
02 Where they are held
Where does ICE hold people in South Florida and Tampa?
Krome North Service Processing Center is in western Miami-Dade County. The address is 18201 SW 12th Street, Miami, FL 33194. ICE’s page for the facility says to call (305) 207-2100 between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. for information about a detainee, and that detainees cannot receive incoming calls. To leave an urgent message for a detainee, call (305) 207-2202 with the person’s full name, A-number, and your name and phone number. The facility also lists visiting sessions, requires an adult visitor to arrive 45 minutes early with a photo ID, and posts a dress code, so read the page before going (ICE page for Krome, updated October 7, 2026).
The Broward Transitional Center is in Pompano Beach. It is at 3900 N. Powerline Road, and ICE lists (954) 973-4485 for information about a detainee (ICE page for the center, updated August 6, 2026). Both facilities are listed under ICE’s Miami Field Office.
A person arrested in Tampa or Hillsborough County may be held somewhere else. ICE says facilities that hold its detainees may be owned and operated by ICE, by a state or local government, or by a contractor, and that it manages one of the most highly transient populations of any detention system (ICE detention management). The locator shows where a person is held now. It may be a different place tomorrow.
03 The court
How does a detained person’s immigration case work?
ICE arrests and detains. The immigration court decides. The immigration courts belong to the Executive Office for Immigration Review, part of the Department of Justice, and ICE is a different agency. EOIR lists three courts in Florida: Miami, Miami Krome (Detained) and Orlando. The Krome court sits inside the Krome facility at 18201 SW 12th Street and also holds hearings at the Broward Transitional Center. The Miami court is at One Riverview Square, 333 S. Miami Avenue, Suite 700 (EOIR court listing, pages updated October 2026).
The court case has its own phone line. For information about a matter before the immigration court, ICE’s Krome page gives 1-800-898-7180, and for the Board of Immigration Appeals, (703) 305-0289. Have the A-number ready, and keep every notice the person receives.
The person may have a lawyer, but the government does not provide one. The statute gives a person in removal proceedings the privilege of being represented by counsel of their choosing, at no expense to the government (8 U.S.C. § 1362; § 1229a(b)(4)(A)). In practice the family hires the lawyer, and the sooner the lawyer files a G-28, the sooner ICE and the court will speak with that lawyer.
04 Bond
Can my relative get out of ICE detention on bond, and how is it requested?
For many people, the law allows release on bond or on conditions. While the case is pending, the statute lets the government continue to detain a person or release them on a bond of at least $1,500, or on conditional parole (8 U.S.C. § 1226(a)). ICE says it uses discretion to release some people with conditions and looks at flight risk, public safety, serious medical conditions and whether the person is the primary caregiver of minor children (ICE detention management).
An immigration judge can review ICE’s decision. After ICE’s initial custody decision, the person can ask an immigration judge for a custody or bond redetermination, and the request may be made orally, in writing or, at the judge’s discretion, by telephone, to the court that has jurisdiction over the place of detention. After that first request, a new one is considered only if the person’s circumstances have materially changed. A bond decision can be appealed to the Board of Immigration Appeals (8 C.F.R. § 1003.19; § 1236.1(d)). The first request is therefore worth preparing before it is made.
Not everyone can be released. Section 1226(c) requires detention of people in listed categories, including some who are inadmissible on certain grounds and are charged with, arrested for or convicted of burglary, theft, larceny, shoplifting, assault of a law enforcement officer, or a crime that results in death or serious bodily injury. Whether a particular arrest or conviction falls inside those categories is a question for a lawyer reading the record.
Posting a bond has its own rules. ICE’s bond page says a delivery bond can be posted by a U.S. citizen, a lawful permanent resident, a law firm or a non-profit organization, who must show identification, and that payment is made by Fedwire or ACH, which means the person posting needs access to a bank account (ICE bonds page, updated July 1, 2026). Work out who in the family can post a bond before a bond is set.
05 What has changed
Is my relative eligible for a bond hearing right now?
It depends on how the government classifies the detention, and that has been unsettled since September 2025. In 2025 the Department of Homeland Security began taking the position that a person who is in the United States without having been admitted must be held without any bond hearing under 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b)(2)(A). That is a different provision from § 1226(a), which allows bond.
The Board of Immigration Appeals agreed with that position. On September 5, 2025, in Matter of Yajure Hurtado, 29 I&N Dec. 216, the Board held that immigration judges lack authority to hear bond requests or to grant bond to people present in the United States without admission. On June 2, 2026, in Matter of N-A-G-C-, 29 I&N Dec. 662, the Board followed that decision again, while noting that the federal courts of appeals had reached differing conclusions (Yajure Hurtado).
The Eleventh Circuit, which covers Florida, disagreed. On May 6, 2026, in Hernandez Alvarez v. Warden, Federal Detention Center Miami, a published opinion in appeals from two men held in Miami-Dade, one of them at Krome, the court held, over one judge’s dissent, that § 1225(b)(2)(A) limits no-bond detention to people who are “seeking admission,” and that § 1226 governs people who are simply present in the country, so they can be considered for bond. The court did not decide whether either man was a flight risk or a danger and did not say Congress could not authorize such detention. Both men had brought their cases as habeas petitions in the federal district court for the Southern District of Florida (the Eleventh Circuit’s opinion). The Board’s own footnote in June 2026 lists the Fifth and Eighth Circuits on one side and the Second, Sixth and Eleventh on the other.
What that means for one family cannot be read from a headline. Whether to ask the immigration judge for a bond hearing, to file in federal court, or both depends on how and when the person came to the United States, on any criminal history, on where the person is held and on where these rulings stand the week it is filed. Further review of the Eleventh Circuit’s decision, or a change by the Board, would change the answer. Jose A. Dapena can review the papers and tell you which path applies to your relative today.
Whether a bond hearing is available turns on the legal basis for the detention, and that has changed more than once in a year.
06 Papers
Should my relative sign anything, and what is voluntary departure?
Ask for a lawyer before signing. Detained people are sometimes handed papers to sign. The person’s right to a lawyer of their own choosing is in the statute, and a signature is hard to take back. Tell your relative, if you can reach them, to ask to speak with the lawyer before signing or answering questions about the case.
Voluntary departure is permission to leave at your own expense. Under the statute, the government may permit a person to depart voluntarily at their own expense, in place of proceedings or before they finish, if the person is not deportable on certain grounds, and the permission is not valid for more than 120 days (8 U.S.C. § 1229c(a)). It is one possible outcome among several. Whether it fits depends on the case, and a person deciding about it should hear the alternatives first.
07 What to do now
What can my family do today?
Gather the papers a bond request needs. Identity documents, any immigration papers the person has ever received, proof of where they live and who they live with, and proof of ties: a job, a lease, children’s school records, relatives who are U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents. If there is any criminal case, in any state, bring the court’s paperwork showing how it ended.
Write down medical needs. Medications, diagnoses and the doctors’ names. ICE says it weighs a serious medical condition and whether the person is the primary caregiver of minor children when it decides custody.
Decide who can post a bond. The person posting must be a citizen or lawful permanent resident or a law firm or non-profit, with a valid ID and a bank account that can send an electronic transfer.
Call a lawyer the same day. The first request to a judge is worth preparing. Jose A. Dapena meets families at the Miami, Homestead and Tampa offices. For the other pages that matter now, see immigration bond and deportation defense, and if your relative’s temporary protected status ended, what to do when TPS ends.
08 An example
A morning in Tampa, from search to first call
A woman in Tampa learns early one morning that her brother was taken by immigration agents the night before. She searches the locator with his full name, country of birth and the A-number from an old notice in a kitchen drawer, and the system shows him at a facility in South Florida. She calls the number ICE lists, and she learns visitors need photo ID. She gathers his lease, his children’s school letters, his medication list and the court papers from an old case, and she asks her cousin, a lawful permanent resident, whether he can post a bond if one is set.
By noon she has all of this in one folder and has called a lawyer, who explains that the bond question depends on how the government classifies the detention and asks her to bring the papers in that day. This is an illustration of how the pieces fit together, not a real case, and it promises no result.
A constructed example, written to show how the rule works. It is not a case this firm handled and it is not a promised result.
09 What to do now
- Search the locator with the full name, country of birth and A-numberICE’s locator works at any hour and its fact sheet says to call the field office if the person cannot be found.
- Call the facility or the Miramar officeHave the full name, other names, date of birth, country of birth and, if you have it, the A-number ready.
- Find out which court has the caseICE gives 1-800-898-7180 for information about a matter before the immigration court. Keep every notice.
- Ask your relative not to sign papers before speaking with a lawyerDetained people can have a lawyer of their choosing, at their own expense.
- Collect proof of identity, address, family ties, work and medical needsThese are what a bond request is built from.
- Identify who can post a bond, and call a lawyer the same dayA bond poster must have acceptable identification and a bank account, and the first request to a judge is worth preparing.
10 What an attorney would look into
- Where your relative is held now and whether a transfer is likely
- The legal basis for the detention, and whether the government is treating it as a § 1226(a) or a § 1225(b)(2)(A) case
- Any criminal history in any state, and whether it falls inside § 1226(c)
- Which court has the case, the next hearing date, and whether a bond request can be filed there
- Whether a federal habeas petition is also worth filing, given where the Eleventh Circuit’s ruling stands
- What relief the person may be able to apply for, and what to file first
11 The sources
- 8 U.S.C. § 1226 (INA § 236) Arrest, detention and releaseThe government may detain a person pending a removal decision or release them on bond of at least $1,500 or conditional parole, except for the categories in subsection (c).
- 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b)(2)(A) (INA § 235) Applicants for admissionThe provision the government invokes for detention without a bond hearing, and the subject of the Board’s and the courts’ decisions.
- 8 C.F.R. § 1003.19 Custody and bond reviewHow an immigration judge reviews custody and bond: where the request goes, its form, a later request, and appeal.
- 8 C.F.R. § 1236.1 Apprehension, custody and detentionThe custody determination by ICE and the respondent’s request to an immigration judge.
- 8 U.S.C. § 1362 and § 1229a(b)(4)(A) Right to counselA person in removal proceedings may be represented by counsel of their choosing, at no expense to the government.
- 8 U.S.C. § 1229c(a) Voluntary departurePermission to depart at the person’s own expense, in place of or before the end of proceedings, valid for no more than 120 days.
- Matter of Yajure Hurtado, 29 I&N Dec. 216 (BIA 2025) Board decision on bond hearingsDecided September 5, 2025: immigration judges lack authority to hear bond requests from people present without admission.
- Hernandez Alvarez v. Warden, Nos. 25-14065 and 25-14075 (11th Cir. May 6, 2026) Eleventh Circuit opinionHeld that § 1225(b)(2)(A) limits no-bond detention to applicants “seeking admission” and that § 1226 governs people who are simply present.
- ICE Online Detainee Locator SystemThe locator, the information it requires, and what to do when a person cannot be found.
- ICE Krome North Service Processing CenterAddress, phone numbers, visiting rules and links for families and legal representatives.
- EOIR Find an Immigration CourtThe three Florida courts and their addresses.
More questions
How do I find out whether ICE has my relative?
Use ICE’s Online Detainee Locator System with the person’s full name, country of birth, and an A-number or a date of birth.
If the person does not appear, call the ICE office in Miramar at (954) 843-5800, which lists Florida as its territory, or the facility you think holds them.
What is an A-number?
It is the registration number that immigration agencies assign to a person’s file. It often appears on notices and cards the agencies issue.
If you cannot find it, the locator also accepts a date of birth, and the staff at a facility can search by name.
Can I call my relative at Krome?
No. ICE’s page for the facility says detainees cannot receive incoming calls.
You can call (305) 207-2202 to leave an urgent message with the person’s full name, A-number, your name and your phone number, and the facility says it will give the message to the person.
Can I visit my relative at Krome?
The facility lists visiting sessions. Adult visitors must arrive 45 minutes early with a valid photo ID, and the page posts a dress code.
Read ICE’s page for the current schedule before you go, and confirm by phone, since it can change.
What is the difference between ICE and the immigration court?
ICE arrests and detains, and its attorneys represent the government in court. The immigration court is part of the Department of Justice, and an immigration judge decides the case and, in many cases, reviews custody.
They have separate phone lines. The court line is 1-800-898-7180.
How much is an immigration bond?
The statute sets a floor of $1,500 (§ 1226(a)). The amount in a particular case is set by ICE or by the immigration judge and depends on the person and the case.
Whether a bond can be set at all depends on the legal basis for the detention.
Who can post the bond?
ICE’s bond page says a U.S. citizen, a lawful permanent resident, a law firm or a non-profit organization can post a delivery bond with proper identification, and payment is by Fedwire or ACH.
Decide who in the family qualifies before a bond is set.
Does the government give my relative a lawyer?
No. The statute gives the person the privilege of a lawyer of their choosing at no expense to the government. The family hires the lawyer, and the lawyer files a G-28 so ICE will speak with them.
Does the Eleventh Circuit’s decision mean my relative will get a bond hearing?
Not automatically. The court held that § 1225(b)(2)(A) does not require no-bond detention for people who are simply present in the country, and it did not decide whether any person is a flight risk or a danger. The Board of Immigration Appeals’ decisions have said otherwise, and other circuits have disagreed with the Eleventh.
How that applies to your relative depends on the person’s history and where the case stands this week.
Does a criminal arrest mean there can be no bond?
Not always, but section 1226(c) requires detention for listed categories, including some people charged with or arrested for burglary, theft, shoplifting or assaulting a law enforcement officer.
Whether a given arrest or conviction fits the category needs a lawyer to read the record.
What does it cost to talk to Jose A. Dapena about this?
Consultations and attorney’s fees are billed hourly. Government filing fees and other third-party expenses are separate. Payment plans are available.
Has someone you love been detained?
Tell Jose A. Dapena the person’s name, country of birth and, if you have it, the A-number. He will tell you where they are likely to be heard, whether a bond request is possible and what to prepare first. Consultations and attorney’s fees are billed hourly, government filing fees are separate, and payment plans are available.