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Ice on Immigration: The fate of the Howard Industries detainees 

By L. Patricia Ice, Featured Columnist

Question:  I have a friend who was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents at Howard Industries in Laurel, Mississippi on August 25, 2008.  My friend is being detained at the LaSalle Detention Facility in Jena, Louisiana.  I talked to him and he said he is going to see an immigration judge soon.  Can you tell me what my friend might expect to happen to him in the coming days?

Answer:  Last week I visited with some of the Howard Industries detainees in Jena, Louisiana.  Each case is different so I cannot tell you exactly what will happen to your friend.  However, what I learned was that most of the detainees were eventually going to be transported to the Immigration Court in Oakdale, Louisiana to have a hearing before an immigration judge.  Each detainee had the option of being personally represented by an attorney or representing himself before the judge.  In general, depending upon the circumstances in his case, during the hearing with the judge each detainee had 1) the option of requesting an immigration bond in order to be released from the jail pending the final disposition of his case, 2) the option of requesting to be removed (deported) from the United States at government expense, 3) the option of requesting to be removed from the United States at the detainee's expense or 4) the option of requesting a hearing before the judge on the merits of any other claim that the detainee might have to stay legally in the United States.  Most of the detainees I saw were not eligible to stay legally in the United States and they were going to ask the judge to order them to be removed.  Others wanted to request an immigration bond so that they could be free pending the disposition of their cases, and some others thought they might be eligible to stay in the United States and were going to pursue those claims.  The detainees who are going to be removed from the United States at government expense or their own expense can expect to be sent back to their native countries in two weeks to ninety days.  Those granted an immigration bond may be freed from jail soon after the bond is paid.  Others will have to wait for their cases to be decided and that time frame is not definite.  I may not have described what may happen to your friend because each case is different.  However, most of the detainees from the raid on Howard Industries may expect any of the above in the coming days.