Immigration attorneys tell NBC Chicago Investigates they’ve seen a recurring issue with ICE withholding personal documents from immigrants once they’re released from ICE custody.
NBC 5 Investigates’ review of lawsuits, government inspection reports and internal ICE memos shows it’s been a long-standing issue.
Four immigration attorneys who recently spoke to NBC 5 Investigates say it’s still a growing problem amid the influx of people being held in ICE custody.
At the end of January, more 72,000 people were in ICE custody, according to ICE data. And with that, immigration attorneys say, there’s been a spike in attorneys filing habeas petitions with the courts – claiming the arrests and detentions of their immigrant clients are unlawful.
Since January 2025, more than 20,000 habeas cases have been filed in federal courts across the country, according to a recent ProPublica analysis.
And when federal judges agree and order the detainees to be released, immigration attorneys say their clients are being released without much notice – sometimes late at night – and with ICE continuing to withhold the return of their drivers’ licenses, state IDs, passports or work authorization forms.
“And after winning those cases, going to the immigration court, getting bond granted for our clients and getting it posted, clients are now being released from ICE detention, but without the documents they had on them when they entered ICE detention. For example, driver’s licenses, work authorization cards, consular IDs, and even passports,” said Laura Smith, an immigration attorney with the Children’s Legal Center.
When asked why this is happening, Smith said: “There’s not a legitimate reason I can understand.”
Her clients – JemmiArdon Vasquez and Carlos Belis – were apprehended by ICE agents back in November near Elgin, according to Smith.
They spent a few days at the ICE processing center in Broadview before being transferred out of state.
“We literally slept in a chair. And the food was horrible. In Texas it was also horrible,” Ardon Vasquez told NBC 5 Investigates.
She says she was taken to Texas and Camp East Montana — the largest ICE detention facility in the country.
The sprawling encampment has drawn headlines recently — after three detainees died here over the past two months.
A federal judge order they be released.
Belis had been taken to Texas and then Indiana, Smith said, and when he was released ICE agents held onto his driver’s license.
“They didn’t give me my license. They took it from me and they didn’t give it back,” he said.
Carlos was able to get a new ID from the Honduran consulate, but Smith says she’s had at least 13 clients who’ve had similar experiences.
Jennifer Peyton, a former immigration judge who now works as an immigration attorney, said she had a client who – after a judge granted her release – was freed from an ICE detention facility in Missouri with little warning.
“Released in the middle of nowhere, No ID,” Peyton said.
While it’s not clear how often this happens, but NBC 5 Investigates found it has been a long-standing point of contention between attorneys and immigration authorities.
In 2022, Laura Smith filed a lawsuit against the federal government over this very issue. In a case that’s still pending, attorneys for the government argued that “if it did not, the alien would have the opportunity to hide or destroy identity documents to make removal difficult…”
A 2024 report by the Government Accountability Office found inconsistencies within how Border Patrol handled personal property for those in custody. The report noted that “… individuals are to be notified… ” about how they can claim “personal property upon release …” but that “field locations do not consistently communicate this….”
Just last month, a federal judge in Minnesota criticized a government attorney for not returning items for an immigration released from custody and the court personally checked the UPS tracking number to ensure the documents were in fact returned.
Bindhu Vijayan, an immigration attorney with Beyond Legal Aid in Chicago, told us she’s seen this issue as well. She said it was representative of the legal challenges that have emerged in the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement efforts.
“Now, as simple as a return of documents have to be litigated – where is the judicial efficiency here,” Vijayan said.
NBC 5 Investigates also reviewed a 2023 ICE memo that shows the agency can confiscate and withhold personal documents – including passports, driver’s licenses, social security cards – but the memo also includes provisions where the documents can be returned or copies can be made.
It specifically states that for detained non-citizens that “upon request, they will be provided with an ICE/ERO-certified copy of their documents.
The memo also spells out that “if the non-citizen cannot legally possess the document, and ICE has no operational need to retain the document, then the document should be returned to the government agency that issued the document.” But that same memo also contains provisions for returning personal documents if the person is allowed to possess it. It also states the agency can provide a copies, but that “only documents believed to be authentic will be considered for return or certified copies.”
Smith says none of her clients’ documents were fraudulent.
“Obviously, these people are being released from ICE detention, so they’re not immediately being removed from the Unites States, if ever. But there’s no valid reason I can think of to keep somebody’s Illinois driver’s license or the work authorization card that immigration issued them in the first place,” Smith said.
NBC 5 Investigates reached out to ICE and DHS last week seeking a response or explanation for this story. On Tuesday afternoon, a spokeswoman wrote that “your request is still being worked on.”
Check back for more.
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