Regardless of your immigration status, you have guaranteed rights nether the Constitution. Larn more here about your rights every bit 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 condition

How to reduce risk to yourself

  • Stay at-home. Don't run, argue, resist, or obstruct the officeholder, even if you believe your rights are beingness violated. Go along your easily where law tin run into them.
  • Don't prevarication about your status or provide imitation documents.

Your rights

  • You accept the right to remain silent and do non have to discuss your immigration or citizenship condition with police, clearing agents, or other officials. Anything you tell an officeholder tin later be used against you in immigration court.
  • If y'all are not a U.S. citizen and an immigration agent requests your clearing papers, y'all must evidence them if you have them with you lot.
  • If an immigration agent asks if they tin can search you lot, you accept the right to say no. Agents do not have the correct to search you or your belongings without your consent or probable crusade.
  • If y'all're over xviii, bear your papers with you at all times. If you lot don't accept them, tell the officer that you desire to remain silent, or that you desire to consult a lawyer before answering whatsoever questions.

What to do in such an meet

  • In some states, you must provide your proper noun to law enforcement if you are stopped and told to identify yourself. But fifty-fifty if you give your name, you lot don't take to reply other questions.
  • If you are driving and are pulled over, the officer can require you to bear witness your license, vehicle registration and proof of insurance, but you don't have to answer questions most your clearing condition.
  • Customs officers can enquire almost your clearing status when entering or leaving the country. If you are a lawful permanent resident (LPR) who has maintained your status, yous but have to reply questions establishing your identity and permanent residency. Refusal to answer other questions will likely cause filibuster, only officials may not deny you entry into the United States for failure to answer other questions. If you are a non-citizen visa holder, you lot may exist denied entry into the U.S. if you lot turn down to answer officers' questions.

Additional resources

  • If you need more than data, contact your local ACLU chapter.
  • National Clearing Law Eye: 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 do if stopped by police force or Water ice

In other languages

  • (Arabic) العَرَبِيَّة‎
  • 中文(简) (Chinese)
  • Creole
  • فارسی (Farsi)
  • Français (French)
  • Bahasa Republic of indonesia (Indonesian)
  • 한국어 (Korean)
  • Português (Portuguese)
  • Soomaali (Somali)
  • Español (Castilian)
  • Tagalog
  • (Urdu) اُردُو‎
  • Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
  • हिंदी (Hindi)
  • (Traditional Chinese) 繁體中文
  • (Simplified Chinese) 简体中文

I've been stopped by constabulary or ICE

How to reduce risk to yourself

  • Stay calm and exercise not resist or obstruct the agents or officers.
  • Do non lie or give false documents.
  • Set yourself and your family unit in case you are arrested. Memorize the phone numbers of your family and your lawyer. Brand emergency plans if you have children or have medication.

Your rights

  • You lot accept the right to remain silent. If you wish to exercise that correct, say and so out loud. (In some states, you may exist required to provide your name if asked to identify yourself.)
  • You lot do not have to consent to a search of yourself or your belongings, simply police may pat down your wearable if they suspect a weapon.
  • If you are arrested by constabulary, you have the correct to a government-appointed lawyer.
  • If yous are detained by ICE, you have the right to consult with a lawyer, just the authorities is not required to provide one for you. Y'all can ask for a list of free or low-cost alternatives.
  • You lot do not have to answer questions about where you were born, whether y'all are a U.S. denizen, or how yous entered the country. (Divide rules apply at international borders and airports, and for individuals on certain nonimmigrant visas, including tourists and business travelers.)

What to practise if yous are arrested or detained

  • Say you lot wish to remain silent and ask for a lawyer immediately. Don't give any explanations or excuses. Don't say annihilation, sign anything, or brand any decisions without a lawyer.
  • If y'all have been arrested past law, y'all have the correct to brand a local phone telephone call. The law cannot listen if you call a lawyer.
  • If you accept been detained past ICE, you have the right to contact your consulate or accept an officeholder inform the consulate of your detention.
  • Retrieve your immigration number ("A" number) and give information technology to your family. It will assist family members locate you.
  • Go on a copy of your immigration documents with someone you trust.
  • If you are a non-citizen: Ask your lawyer most the effect of a criminal conviction or plea on your immigration status. Don't discuss your clearing status with anyone but your lawyer. While you lot are in jail, an immigration amanuensis may visit you. Exercise not answer questions or sign anything before talking to a lawyer. Read all papers fully. If you do non empathize or cannot read the papers, tell the officer you lot demand an interpreter.

If yous believe your rights were violated

  • Write downward everything you remember, including officers' badges and patrol car numbers, which agency the officers were from, and any other details. Get contact information for witnesses.
  • If you're injured, seek medical attention immediately and have photographs of your injuries.
  • File a written complaint with the agency's internal affairs division or civilian complaint board. In most cases, you can file a complaint anonymously if you wish.

Additional resource

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

In other languages

  • (Standard arabic) العَرَبِيَّة‎‎
  • فارسی (Farsi)
  • Español (Castilian)
  • (Urdu) اُردُو‎

Police or ICE are at my home

How to reduce gamble to yourself

  • Stay calm and keep the door closed. Opening the door does not give them permission to come inside, only it is safer to speak to ICE through the door.

Your rights

  • Y'all have the right to remain silent, even if officer has a warrant.
  • Y'all do not have to let police or immigration agents into your dwelling house unless they have sure 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. Only a warrant of removal/deportation (Class I-205) does not permit officers to enter a home without consent.

What to do when the police or Water ice arrive

  • Ask if they are clearing agents and what they are there for.
  • Inquire the agent or officer to evidence you a bluecoat or identification through the window or peephole.
  • Inquire if they have a warrant signed past a judge. If they say they do, inquire them to slide information technology under the door or concur it up to a window so you can inspect it.
  • Don't lie or produce any false documents. Don't sign annihilation without speaking with a lawyer commencement.
  • Do not open your door unless ICE shows you a judicial search or arrest warrant naming a person in your residence and/or areas to be searched at your address. If they don't produce a warrant, keep the door airtight. State: "I do not consent to your entry."
  • If agents force their way in, do not resist. If y'all wish to practice your rights, state: "I do not 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 equally soon as possible."
  • If you are on probation with a search condition, constabulary enforcement is allowed to enter your home.

Additional resources

  • If you 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 Heart
  • American Immigration Lawyers Association

I need a lawyer

Your rights

  • If y'all are arrested by the police force, you have the correct to a government-appointed lawyer, and should ask for one immediately.
  • If arrested, you have the right to a private telephone call within a reasonable time of your arrest, and police force may non mind to the call if it is made to a lawyer.
  • If you lot are detained by Water ice or Border Patrol, you accept the right to hire a lawyer, but the authorities does not accept to provide ane for you. Ask for a listing of free or depression-price alternatives.
  • If you are detained, you have the right to telephone call a lawyer or your family unit, and y'all have the right to be visited past a lawyer in detention. You have the right to have your attorney with you at whatsoever hearing earlier an immigration approximate.

Boosted resources

  • If you need more data, contact your local ACLU affiliate.
  • Hither is a list of contact information for legal organizations that assist immigrants.

I've been detained near the border past Border Patrol

How to reduce risk to yourself

  • Stay at-home when interacting with immigration officials. Do non lie or provide false documents.
  • Never abscond from an clearing checkpoint.

Your rights

  • Y'all have the right to remain silent. You can also tell the agent that y'all'll only answer questions in the presence of an attorney, no matter your citizenship or immigration status.
  • You do not take to answer questions about your clearing status. A express exception exists for people who take permission to be 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 information about their immigration status if asked.
  • By and large, a Border Patrol amanuensis cannot detain you unless they have "reasonable suspicion"  that you are committing or committed a violation of clearing police force or federal police force.
  • An immigration officeholder cannot arrest you without "probable cause." That means the agent must have facts about you that go far probable that you are committing, or committed, a violation of immigration law or federal law.
  • At immigration checkpoints, agents do not need any suspicion to stop you lot and ask you lot questions, but their questions should exist brief and related to verifying clearing condition. They tin can also visually inspect your vehicle.

What to await

  • People who take entered the U.S. without inspection by an immigration official may be subject area to expedited removal from the U.S. based on certain criteria. If you are told that you are bailiwick to expedited removal, enquire for the stated reason. As well, if you fearfulness persecution if returned to your country of origin, you should immediately inform the agents of your fear.
  • At border crossings, federal regime do non need a warrant or even suspicion of wrongdoing to justify conducting what courts have chosen a "routine search," such equally searching baggage or a vehicle.
  • If an agent asks you for documents, what you demand to provide differs depending on your immigration condition. U.S. citizens exercise not accept to carry proof of citizenship if they are in the U.S. If you lot have valid clearing documents and are over the age of 18, the law requires that you to carry those documents with you. If you are asked by an clearing agent to produce them, show them to the agent. If you are an immigrant without documents, you lot can refuse the officer'south request, although an agent may then enquire you more than questions.

Additional resources

  • If you demand more than information, contact your local ACLU chapter.
  • National Immigration Police Center: Know Your Rights
  • A Toolkit for Organizations Responding to Mass Worksite Immigration Raids
  • Immigrant Legal Resources Middle
  • American Immigration Lawyers Clan

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

How to reduce run a risk to yourself

  • Stay at-home. Don't run, argue, or obstruct the officeholder or amanuensis. Continue your hands raised where they can run into them.
  • If yous are in a car, pull over in a safe place every bit quickly every bit possible. Turn off the engine, turn on the internal low-cal, open the window part way and identify your hands on the wheel. Upon asking, bear witness law your driver'south license, registration, and proof of insurance.
  • If you are non a U.Southward. denizen and an immigration agent requests your papers, you must show them if you accept them with you. If you are over eighteen, carry your immigration documents with you at all times. If you do non have immigration papers, say y'all want to remain silent.

Your rights
In a car:

  • Drivers and passengers have the right to remain silent. If you lot are a passenger, you can inquire if you are costless to exit. If the officer says yeah, calmly leave.
  • If an officeholder or immigration agent asks to look inside your car, you tin can decline to consent to the search. But if police generally believe that your car contains show of a crime, your auto can be searched without your consent.
  • In addition to police, Border Patrol acquit "roving patrols" around the interior of the U.Due south., pulling over motorists. Edge Patrol must have reasonable suspicion that the driver or passengers in the machine committed an clearing violation or a federal crime.
  • Whatever arrest or prolonged stop past Edge Patrol requires probable crusade. You may ask the agents about the basis for probable cause, and they should tell you lot. In this situation, both the commuter and any passengers accept the right to remain silent and not answer questions nigh their immigration condition.

On an airplane:

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

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 bus is on its journeying. More than one officer unremarkably boards the omnibus, and they will ask passengers questions about their immigration status, inquire passengers to evidence them clearing documents, or both.
  • These questions should be brief and related to verifying one'south lawful presence in the U.S. You are not required to reply and can simply say you practice non wish to do so. Equally always, yous have the right to remain silent.

If you believe your rights were violated

  • Write down everything you remember, including officers' badges and patrol car numbers, which agency the officers were from, and any other details. Get 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's internal affairs division or noncombatant complaint lath. In most cases, yous can file a complaint anonymously.

Additional resources

  • If you need more than information, contact your local ACLU affiliate.
  • National Clearing Constabulary Centre: 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 immigration case is underway

I've been arrested and need to challenge a deportation order

Your rights

  • You have the right to a hearing to challenge a deportation order, unless you waive your correct to a hearing, sign something called a "Stipulated Removal Lodge," or accept "voluntary divergence."
  • Yous have the right to an attorney, but the government does not have to provide one for you. Enquire for a list of free or low-cost alternatives. If you have no lawyer, inquire the court to let y'all time to observe one.

What to exercise if you are arrested

  • If you are told that you do not have the right to see an immigration guess, you should speak with a lawyer immediately. In that location are some cases in which a person might non accept a right to meet an clearing gauge. But even if yous are told that is your situation, yous should ask to speak to a lawyer immediately because Clearing officers volition not always know or tell you almost exceptions might apply to yous.
  • If you fear persecution or torture in your dwelling country, tell an officeholder and contact a lawyer immediately. You have additional rights if yous have this fright.

Additional resources

  • If you need more than information, contact your local ACLU affiliate.
  • National Immigration Constabulary Center: Know Your Rights
  • A Toolkit for Organizations Responding to Mass Worksite Immigration Raids
  • Immigrant Legal Resources Center
  • American Immigration Lawyers Clan