Administration of Justice Bulletin #2025/07

An immigration detainer is one of the key tools used by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS)—through its Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) unit—to apprehend individuals who come in contact with local and state law enforcement agencies. Sometimes, after a defendant has been arrested for a crime, an ICE officer will file an immigration detainer with the agency that has custody of the defendant. As a result of this filing, the agency must (1) notify DHS as to when the defendant would otherwise be eligible for release and (2) hold the defendant for up to forty-eight hours to enable ICE to take custody of the defendant.

As a rule, an ICE agent may issue a detainer only when the agent believes there is probable cause (more than mere suspicion but less than evidence justifying a conviction) to believe that the subject of the detainer is a removable alien.

 An immigration detainer is a request that a custodial agency hold a subject after he or she would otherwise be released. A detainer does not require the custodial agency to do so, however. Prior to December 1, 2024, North Carolina law enforcement agencies could decide whether to honor detainer requests from federal agents. In 2024, the state’s  General Assembly passed a law that mandated cooperation with ICE detainers and provided some guidance on procedures regarding the custody of noncitizens. The law was amended in 2025 to modify some of these procedures and create new procedures for setting pretrial release conditions for noncitizens. 

This bulletin details the newly enacted statutory changes and answers some frequently asked questions related to the implementation of these laws.