Regardless of your immigration status, you have guaranteed rights nether the Constitution. Learn more than here well-nigh your rights as an immigrant, and how to express them.

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Woman and child in an immigration rally.

Police force enforcement asks most my immigration status

How to reduce risk to yourself

  • Stay calm. Don't run, argue, resist, or obstruct the officer, even if you believe your rights are being violated. Keep your hands where police tin can see them.
  • Don't lie nigh your condition or provide false documents.

Your rights

  • Y'all have the right to remain silent and do non have to talk over your clearing or citizenship status with police, immigration agents, or other officials. Anything you tell an officer can later be used confronting you lot in immigration court.
  • If you are non a U.S. denizen and an clearing agent requests your immigration papers, yous must show them if yous accept them with yous.
  • If an immigration amanuensis asks if they can search you, yous take the correct to say no. Agents exercise not accept the right to search you or your belongings without your consent or likely cause.
  • If you're over 18, carry your papers with you at all times. If you don't have them, tell the officeholder that yous want to remain silent, or that y'all want to consult a lawyer before answering whatever questions.

What to do in such an meet

  • In some states, you must provide your name to law enforcement if you are stopped and told to place yourself. Just even if you give your name, you lot don't accept to respond other questions.
  • If you are driving and are pulled over, the officer tin require you to prove your license, vehicle registration and proof of insurance, but y'all don't take to reply questions about your clearing status.
  • Community officers can ask about your immigration status when entering or leaving the land. If you are a lawful permanent resident (LPR) who has maintained your condition, y'all but have to answer questions establishing your identity and permanent residency. Refusal to answer other questions volition probable cause delay, simply officials may non deny you entry into the United States for failure to answer other questions. If you lot are a not-citizen visa holder, yous may be denied entry into the U.S. if you refuse to respond officers' questions.

Boosted resources

  • If you need more than information, contact your local ACLU affiliate.
  • National Immigration Law Center: Know Your Rights
  • A Toolkit for Organizations Responding to Mass Worksite Clearing Raids
  • Immigrant Legal Resources Centre
  • American Immigration Lawyers Association
  • ACLU VIDEO: What to do if stopped by police force or ICE

In other languages

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  • (Urdu) اُردُو‎
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I've been stopped by police or Water ice

How to reduce risk to yourself

  • Stay calm and practice non resist or obstruct the agents or officers.
  • Do non lie or requite false documents.
  • Fix yourself and your family in instance you are arrested. Memorize the phone numbers of your family and your lawyer. Make emergency plans if you lot have children or take medication.

Your rights

  • Y'all have the right to remain silent. If you wish to practice that right, say so out loud. (In some states, you may be required to provide your name if asked to identify yourself.)
  • You do not have to consent to a search of yourself or your property, just police may pat downwards your wearable if they doubtable a weapon.
  • If you are arrested by constabulary, you lot have the right to a regime-appointed lawyer.
  • If you are detained by Water ice, y'all have the right to consult with a lawyer, simply the government is not required to provide i for you. You tin ask for a listing of free or low-cost alternatives.
  • You lot do not have to answer questions about where y'all were born, whether you are a U.S. citizen, or how you entered the state. (Split rules apply at international borders and airports, and for individuals on certain nonimmigrant visas, including tourists and business travelers.)

What to do if you are arrested or detained

  • Say you wish to remain silent and ask for a lawyer immediately. Don't give whatsoever explanations or excuses. Don't say anything, sign annihilation, or brand whatever decisions without a lawyer.
  • If you have been arrested past police, you have the right to make a local telephone telephone call. The police cannot listen if you call a lawyer.
  • If y'all have been detained by Ice, you accept the right to contact your consulate or accept an officeholder inform the consulate of your detention.
  • Remember your immigration number ("A" number) and requite it to your family. Information technology will aid family members locate you.
  • Keep a copy of your immigration documents with someone you trust.
  • If you are a non-citizen: Ask your lawyer about the effect of a criminal conviction or plea on your immigration condition. Don't hash out your immigration status with anyone only your lawyer. While y'all are in jail, an immigration agent may visit yous. Exercise not answer questions or sign annihilation earlier talking to a lawyer. Read all papers fully. If you do non understand or cannot read the papers, tell the officeholder you lot demand an interpreter.

If you believe your rights were violated

  • Write down everything you remember, including officers' badges and patrol machine numbers, which agency the officers were from, and any other details. Go contact information for witnesses.
  • If you lot're injured, seek medical attention immediately and take photographs of your injuries.
  • File a written complaint with the agency'south internal diplomacy division or noncombatant complaint board. In most cases, yous can file a complaint anonymously if you wish.

Boosted resource

  • If y'all need more information, contact your local ACLU affiliate.
  • National Immigration Law Heart: Know Your Rights
  • A Toolkit for Organizations Responding to Mass Worksite Immigration Raids
  • Immigrant Legal Resource Center
  • American Immigration Lawyers Association
  • ACLU VIDEO: What to exercise if stopped past police or ICE

In other languages

  • (Arabic) العَرَبِيَّة‎‎
  • فارسی (Persian)
  • Español (Spanish)
  • (Urdu) اُردُو‎

Constabulary or Ice are at my home

How to reduce hazard to yourself

  • Stay at-home and continue the door closed. Opening the door does not give them permission to come up inside, but it is safer to speak to Water ice through the door.

Your rights

  • Y'all take the correct to remain silent, even if officeholder has a warrant.
  • You lot practice non have to let constabulary or immigration agents into your home unless they have certain kinds of warrants.
  • If police have an arrest warrant, they are legally allowed to enter the home of the person on the warrant if they believe that person is inside. But a warrant of removal/deportation (Course I-205) does not permit officers to enter a home without consent.

What to practice when the police or ICE arrive

  • Ask if they are immigration agents and what they are there for.
  • Ask the agent or officer to show yous a badge or identification through the window or peephole.
  • Ask if they have a warrant signed by a judge. If they say they do, enquire them to slide it under the door or agree it up to a window so you tin inspect it.
  • Don't lie or produce whatever false documents. Don't sign anything without speaking with a lawyer first.
  • Do not open up your door unless ICE shows yous a judicial search or arrest warrant naming a person in your residence and/or areas to exist searched at your address. If they don't produce a warrant, keep the door closed. State: "I practise not consent to your entry."
  • If agents strength their way in, do not resist. If you wish to exercise your rights, state: "I do non consent to your entry or to your search of these premises. I am exercising my right to remain silent. I wish to speak with a lawyer as soon as possible."
  • If you lot are on probation with a search condition, law enforcement is allowed to enter your dwelling house.

Additional resource

  • If y'all need more than information, contact your local ACLU chapter.
  • National Clearing Police force Center: Know Your Rights
  • A Toolkit for Organizations Responding to Mass Worksite Clearing Raids
  • Immigrant Legal Resource Center
  • American Immigration Lawyers Association

I need a lawyer

Your rights

  • If you are arrested by the police, y'all have the correct to a government-appointed lawyer, and should ask for one immediately.
  • If arrested, you have the right to a private phone phone call within a reasonable time of your abort, and police may not heed to the call if it is made to a lawyer.
  • If you are detained by Water ice or Border Patrol, you lot accept the right to hire a lawyer, only the government does not have to provide one for you. Ask for a list of free or low-price alternatives.
  • If you are detained, you lot take the right to call a lawyer or your family unit, and you have the right to exist visited by a lawyer in detention. You have the correct to have your chaser with y'all at any hearing before an immigration guess.

Additional resources

  • If you need more data, contact your local ACLU chapter.
  • Here is a listing of contact information for legal organizations that help immigrants.

I've been detained most the border by Border Patrol

How to reduce take a chance to yourself

  • Stay calm when interacting with immigration officials. Do not prevarication or provide false documents.
  • Never flee from an clearing checkpoint.

Your rights

  • You have the right to remain silent. You can too tell the agent that you'll only respond questions in the presence of an chaser, no affair your citizenship or immigration status.
  • You lot do not have to respond questions well-nigh your immigration status. A limited exception exists for people who have permission to exist in the U.S. for a specific reason and for a limited amount of time (a "nonimmigrant" on a visa, for example). These individuals are required to provide data nearly their clearing status if asked.
  • More often than not, a Border Patrol agent cannot detain you lot unless they have "reasonable suspicion"  that you are committing or committed a violation of immigration law or federal police force.
  • An immigration officer cannot arrest you without "probable cause." That ways the agent must have facts about you that go far probable that y'all are committing, or committed, a violation of clearing law or federal law.
  • At immigration checkpoints, agents exercise not need any suspicion to stop you lot and ask y'all questions, simply their questions should be brief and related to verifying clearing status. They can also visually inspect your vehicle.

What to expect

  • People who have entered the U.South. without inspection by an clearing official may exist field of study to expedited removal from the U.S. based on certain criteria. If you are told that you are subject to expedited removal, ask for the stated reason. Also, if you fear persecution if returned to your country of origin, you should immediately inform the agents of your fright.
  • At border crossings, federal government do non demand a warrant or fifty-fifty suspicion of wrongdoing to justify conducting what courts accept called a "routine search," such equally searching luggage or a vehicle.
  • If an agent asks you for documents, what you demand to provide differs depending on your clearing status. U.S. citizens do not have to carry proof of citizenship if they are in the U.S. If you have valid immigration documents and are over the age of 18, the law requires that you to comport those documents with you. If y'all are asked past an immigration amanuensis to produce them, evidence them to the agent. If you are an immigrant without documents, you lot can turn down the officer'south request, although an amanuensis may and then ask you more than questions.

Boosted resources

  • If you demand more information, contact your local ACLU affiliate.
  • National Clearing Law Heart: Know Your Rights
  • A Toolkit for Organizations Responding to Mass Worksite Immigration Raids
  • Immigrant Legal Resource Center
  • American Immigration Lawyers Association

I was stopped by police, Ice, or Border Patrol while in transit

How to reduce run a risk to yourself

  • Stay calm. Don't run, argue, or obstruct the officeholder or amanuensis. Continue your hands raised where they can see them.
  • If you are in a machine, pull over in a rubber place as quickly as possible. Turn off the engine, turn on the internal lite, open up the window part way and identify your hands on the wheel. Upon request, show police your commuter's license, registration, and proof of insurance.
  • If you are not a U.S. citizen and an immigration agent requests your papers, y'all must show them if yous have them with you. If you are over xviii, acquit your immigration documents with y'all at all times. If you do not have immigration papers, say you want to remain silent.

Your rights
In a automobile:

  • Drivers and passengers have the correct to remain silent. If you are a rider, you can inquire if you are gratis to leave. If the officer says yeah, calmly leave.
  • If an officer or immigration agent asks to look inside your car, you can refuse to consent to the search. Only if police generally believe that your car contains evidence of a crime, your auto can be searched without your consent.
  • In addition to police, Border Patrol conduct "roving patrols" effectually the interior of the U.S., pulling over motorists. Border Patrol must accept reasonable suspicion that the driver or passengers in the car committed an clearing violation or a federal crime.
  • Any arrest or prolonged stop by Edge Patrol requires likely cause. Yous may ask the agents well-nigh the basis for probable crusade, and they should tell you. In this state of affairs, both the driver and whatsoever passengers take the right to remain silent and not answer questions virtually their immigration status.

On an aeroplane:

  • A pilot may refuse to fly a passenger if he or she reasonably believes that the passenger is a threat to flight condom. A pilot may not, nonetheless, question you or refuse to allow yous on a flight because of bias based on your religion, race, national origin, gender, ethnicity, or political beliefs.
  • If you believe y'all are mistakenly on a "no-fly" list, yous should review our guidance on No-Fly lists hither.

On buses and trains:

  • Border Patrol agents may board buses and trains in the 100-mile edge region either at the station or while the coach is on its journey. More than one officer usually boards the motorbus, and they will inquire passengers questions about their clearing status, enquire passengers to testify them immigration documents, or both.
  • These questions should be cursory and related to verifying one's lawful presence in the U.Due south. You are not required to answer and can simply say you practise non wish to practise so. Equally ever, y'all have the right to remain silent.

If y'all believe your rights were violated

  • Write down everything you lot retrieve, including officers' badges and patrol car numbers, which agency the officers were from, and any other details. Become contact data from witnesses.
  • If you're injured, seek medical attention immediately and take photographs of your injuries.
  • File a written complaint with the agency'due south internal affairs segmentation or civilian complaint board. In most cases, you can file a complaint anonymously.

Additional resources

  • If yous need more than data, contact your local ACLU affiliate.
  • National Immigration Police force Eye: Know Your Rights
  • A Toolkit for Organizations Responding to Mass Worksite Immigration Raids
  • Immigrant Legal Resources Center
  • American Clearing Lawyers Association

I am detained while my clearing case is underway

I've been arrested and need to claiming a deportation club

Your rights

  • You accept the right to a hearing to challenge a deportation gild, unless yous waive your right to a hearing, sign something chosen a "Stipulated Removal Order," or take "voluntary deviation."
  • You take the right to an attorney, but the regime does not take to provide i for you. Inquire for a list of free or depression-cost alternatives. If you take no lawyer, ask the court to allow you time to find one.

What to practise if you lot are arrested

  • If you lot are told that yous do non have the right to run across an immigration judge, you lot should speak with a lawyer immediately. There are some cases in which a person might not have a right to see an immigration judge. But even if you are told that is your situation, you should ask to speak to a lawyer immediately because Clearing officers will not always know or tell you nearly exceptions might apply to you.
  • If you fear persecution or torture in your home country, tell an officeholder and contact a lawyer immediately. You lot accept additional rights if you lot have this fearfulness.

Additional resource

  • If you need more data, contact your local ACLU affiliate.
  • National Clearing Police force Center: Know Your Rights
  • A Toolkit for Organizations Responding to Mass Worksite Immigration Raids
  • Immigrant Legal Resource Center
  • American Immigration Lawyers Association