Mandatory detention after a plea
For the criminal grounds listed in INA 236(c), ICE must detain you and the immigration judge cannot set a bond. Which grounds are on that list depends on the category of the offense, on whether you were admitted, and for one ground on whether the sentence was a year or more. Since January 2025, the Laken Riley Act has added grounds that turn on an arrest or a charge rather than a conviction. A plea that keeps the offense off the 236(c) list keeps the bond hearing; a plea that puts it on the list takes the hearing away for the length of the case.
Current as of October 2026. We re-check this page regularly and after any rule change.
Detention is the consequence of a plea that arrives first. A person who is removable can spend months contesting the charge; a person who is detained without bond spends those months inside. This page is about which pleas put you on the list in INA 236(c), how the Laken Riley Act changed that list, and what a sentence of one year does to a single crime involving moral turpitude. The grounds it refers to are on the crimes and removal page. Bond hearings, habeas petitions and the detention centers themselves are the work of our detention site, icebail.com, which is linked at the end.
The list in INA 236(c)(1)
INA 236(c)(1) says the Attorney General "shall take into custody" a person who falls within one of its lettered paragraphs. For those people there is no bond hearing before the immigration judge.
| Paragraph | Who it covers | What that means |
|---|---|---|
| (A) | Inadmissible by reason of any offense in INA 212(a)(2) | Any criminal ground on the inadmissibility list, including a CIMT outside the petty offense exception, any controlled-substance conviction or admission with no marijuana exception, and a reason-to-believe trafficking finding with no conviction at all |
| (B) | Deportable under INA 237(a)(2)(A)(ii), (A)(iii), (B), (C) or (D) | Two or more CIMTs; any aggravated felony; any controlled-substance ground other than the single small-marijuana offense; any firearms offense; the offenses in 237(a)(2)(D) |
| (C) | Deportable under INA 237(a)(2)(A)(i), a single CIMT within five years of admission, and sentenced to a term of imprisonment of at least one year | The one ground on the list with a sentence threshold. A suspended year is a year under INA 101(a)(48)(B); 364 days is not |
| (D) | Inadmissible or deportable on the terrorism grounds | Not a criminal plea question |
| (E) | The Laken Riley Act ground, described below | Turns on an arrest or a charge, not a conviction |
INA 236(c)(1)(A)-(D); Pub. L. 119-1 (Jan. 29, 2025), adding INA 236(c)(1)(E).
Two grounds on the deportability list are missing from paragraph (B): the domestic violence, stalking, child abuse and protection order grounds in 237(a)(2)(E). On the text of the statute, a person deportable only under 237(a)(2)(E) is not within 236(c)(1)(B). Whether the same offense is also a CIMT, and so within (A), (B) or (C), is a separate question decided under the categorical approach.
The Laken Riley Act: detention on an arrest
The Laken Riley Act, Pub. L. 119-1, signed January 29, 2025, added paragraph (E) to INA 236(c)(1). As we read the statute, it requires detention of a person who is inadmissible under INA 212(a)(6)(A), (6)(C) or (7) and who is charged with, arrested for, convicted of, or admits committing theft, burglary, larceny, shoplifting, assault of a law enforcement officer, or a crime resulting in death or serious bodily injury.
Three things about that ground are different from everything else on this site.
- No conviction is needed. An arrest or a charge is enough. The plea negotiation that keeps a theft charge out of the aggravated felony entries or the CIMT ground does not undo an arrest for theft that already happened.
- It applies only to a person who is inadmissible on one of three listed grounds. Those are grounds in 212(a)(6) and 212(a)(7), not the criminal grounds in 212(a)(2). As we read the statute, 212(a)(6)(A) reaches a person present without admission, 212(a)(6)(C) reaches misrepresentation and, in (C)(ii), a false claim to citizenship, and 212(a)(7) reaches a person without valid entry documents. A green card holder who was admitted is not within it. A person who entered without inspection is.
- The offense categories are named in plain words, not by reference to the immigration definitions. Whether a particular state charge is "theft" or "shoplifting" for this purpose is not something to assume. Ask us about your charge.
In a detained case
The description above is our reading of the statute as enacted. Ask before relying on it in a detained case.
What "mandatory" means
Two Supreme Court decisions define the edges. Under Nielsen v. Preap, 586 U.S. 392 (2019), the rule applies to a person within a listed ground even if ICE did not take custody at the moment of release from criminal custody. Being released on the criminal case and going home does not take you off the list. Under Jennings v. Rodriguez, 583 U.S. 281 (2018), the detention statutes carry no implied right to a bond hearing after six months; the length of a mandatory detention is not limited by the statute itself.
Whether you fall within 236(c) is a legal question about the conviction, and it is decided the same way removability is: by the category of the offense, tested under the categorical approach, and by the sentence and status thresholds in the paragraph. A person who is not within a listed ground gets a bond hearing under INA 236(a). At that hearing the judge applies the factors in Matter of Guerra, 24 I&N Dec. 37 (BIA 2006): danger to the community and flight risk, on a non-exhaustive list, with criminal history weighing on both. A plea that avoids mandatory detention is a plea that gets you a hearing, not a plea that wins it.
How a plea category maps onto the list
| Category of plea | Admitted (green card, visa) | Not admitted, or seeking admission |
|---|---|---|
| Aggravated felony | Mandatory, (B), via 237(a)(2)(A)(iii) | Mandatory under (A) if the offense is also a 212(a)(2) ground, which most are |
| One CIMT within five years of admission, sentence of one year or more | Mandatory, (C) | Mandatory, (A), unless the petty offense exception applies |
| One CIMT, sentence of 364 days or less | Bond hearing on this ground alone; (C) requires at least one year | Mandatory, (A), unless the petty offense exception applies; the exception needs a sentence of six months or less and a one-year maximum |
| Two or more CIMTs, separate schemes | Mandatory, (B), via 237(a)(2)(A)(ii) | Mandatory, (A) |
| Controlled substance, other than a single possession of 30 grams or less of marijuana | Mandatory, (B), via 237(a)(2)(B) | Mandatory, (A) |
| Single possession of 30 grams or less of marijuana for personal use | Bond hearing on this ground alone; the offense is excepted from 237(a)(2)(B)(i) | Mandatory, (A); the inadmissibility drug ground has no marijuana exception |
| Firearms offense | Mandatory, (B), via 237(a)(2)(C) | Bond hearing on this ground alone; there is no firearms ground in 212(a)(2) |
| Domestic violence, stalking, child abuse, protection order finding | Bond hearing on this ground alone; 237(a)(2)(E) is not listed in (B) | Bond hearing on this ground alone; no 212(a)(2) counterpart |
| Theft, burglary, larceny, shoplifting, assault of an officer, or a crime causing death or serious injury: arrest or charge only | Not within (E), which requires inadmissibility under 212(a)(6)(A), (6)(C) or (7) | Mandatory, (E), as we read the statute, on the arrest or charge alone |
Every row that says "on this ground alone" carries the same caution: an offense can be in more than one category. A domestic violence assault can be a CIMT. A firearms offense with a one-year sentence can be a crime-of-violence aggravated felony. The table answers one question per row, and the categorical analysis has to be run for every ground the offense could fit.
The single-CIMT ground turns on one year
For an admitted person with one crime involving moral turpitude, 236(c)(1)(C) is the only paragraph that reaches the offense, and it requires a sentence of at least one year. A sentence of 364 days is outside it. Under INA 101(a)(48)(B) a suspended sentence counts in full, so a year suspended is a year, and the request has to be for 364 days imposed, not a year with time suspended. The same day keeps a theft, crime of violence, forgery or obstruction plea out of the sentence-based aggravated felony entries. The 364-day page covers how the request works in each court.
Where the bond side of the case lives
This page stops at the question the plea controls: whether you are within a listed ground. What happens next, the custody redetermination request, the bond hearing, the evidence on danger and flight risk, the challenge to a wrongful 236(c) classification, and habeas after prolonged detention, is on our detention site.
ICE detention and bond: how a bond hearing is requested and won, what the Guerra factors look like in practice, and habeas for prolonged detention.
Bond and detention at icebail.com →
immigrationtrial.comDefending a removal case from inside a detention center: the accelerated calendar, the evidence, and the relief that is still open.
Detained removal defense →
At the plea, the detention question is one more reason the category and the sentence are negotiated together. The plea strategy pages go through what to ask for.
Read next: the 364-day sentence, pleas with no lawful status, crimes involving moral turpitude, or removal proceedings after a plea.
Common questions
ICE did not pick me up when I was released from jail. Does that mean I can get a bond?
Not on its own. Under Nielsen v. Preap, 586 U.S. 392 (2019), the mandatory detention rule in INA 236(c) applies to a person who falls within one of its grounds even if ICE did not take custody at the moment of release from criminal custody. The question is whether you are within a listed ground, not when ICE arrived.
How long can mandatory detention last?
There is no fixed limit in the statute. In Jennings v. Rodriguez, 583 U.S. 281 (2018), the Supreme Court held that the detention statutes do not carry an implied right to a bond hearing after six months. Challenges to prolonged detention are brought on other grounds, and they are the work of our detention practice at icebail.com, not of this page.
I pleaded to one crime involving moral turpitude. Is my detention mandatory?
It depends on your status and the sentence. For a person who was admitted, INA 236(c)(1)(C) covers a single CIMT under 237(a)(2)(A)(i) only if the sentence imposed was at least one year, and a suspended sentence counts. A sentence of 364 days or less keeps a single CIMT outside that ground. For a person who is inadmissible, 236(c)(1)(A) covers any 212(a)(2) ground, so a single CIMT outside the petty offense exception is enough, whatever the sentence.
What happens if I do get a bond hearing?
The immigration judge decides whether you are a danger to the community and a flight risk, using the factors in Matter of Guerra, 24 I&N Dec. 37 (BIA 2006). Criminal history weighs on both. A plea that is not a mandatory detention ground can still be the reason a bond is denied or set high. The mechanics of the hearing are on icebail.com.
Tell us about the charge before you take the plea. Not after.
You get a free conversation with an immigration attorney, in your language. We speak English, Russian, Spanish and Uzbek in-house, and we bring in a live interpreter for anything else. We will read the charge against the immigration statute, tell you what the offered plea does to your status and to every form of relief, and tell you what to ask your criminal lawyer to negotiate instead. If the plea has already been entered, we will tell you what can still be done.