Can ICE detain people with protected status

1. What “protected status” means in practice and why it doesn’t guarantee immunity

“Protected status” can refer to a range of claims or legal categories — from granted asylum or withholding, to pending relief, DACA requests, or lawful permanent resident status — but federal immigration enforcement is civil and administrative, not criminal, and ICE’s publicly stated posture is that all noncitizens who violate immigration law are subject to arrest and detention regardless of criminal history or claimed protections ^[2]; reporting from advocacy groups documents instances where green card holders and asylum seekers who believed they were protected were nevertheless detained ^[1].

2. Documented examples: lawful residents and protected claimants detained

Investigations and reports provide concrete examples: an American Immigration Council profile details a green card holder detained at an airport over a past conviction he had been told would not jeopardize his status, and an asylum seeker granted protection by an immigration judge who nevertheless remained detained while ICE sought removal to a third country — cases used to illustrate how detention can reach people who believe they are protected ^[1].

3. The mechanics: detainers, service and agency discretion

Operationally, ICE often uses administrative tools such as detainers and information-sharing with local law enforcement; a detainer is ICE’s request for a law enforcement agency to maintain custody but, according to agency guidance, “a detainer takes effect only when it is served upon the subject,” and ICE’s request is contingent on that service, meaning procedural steps and local cooperation matter to whether detention follows ^[4]. ICE also asserts a system of detention standards and management across facilities that house its detainees, signaling institutional processes that apply regardless of an individual’s claimed protections ^[3].

4. Scale and context: detention numbers and the odds of being detained

The scale of ICE detention matters for how often protected-status cases encounter custody: reporting and data compilations show record high detention populations in 2025–2026, with tens of thousands held in ICE custody and a large share without criminal convictions, illustrating that detention increasingly reaches people across status categories ^{[5] [6] [7]}. Advocacy organizations and oversight reporting warn that rapid expansion of detention capacity and enforcement tactics has increased the number of people — including those with limited or no criminal records — who are put into custody ^{[8] [1]}.

5. Rights, review and accountability — what the sources say and where uncertainty remains

Legal-rights guides from immigrant-defense groups emphasize that people have constitutional protections and certain practical steps to assert them when approached by ICE, and tribal advocates note ICE has no immigration jurisdiction over U.S. citizens even as wrongful detentions of citizens and residents have been alleged ^{[9] [10]}; ICE and DHS materials assert oversight mechanisms and detention standards but independent reports and news investigations raise concerns about accountability and why individuals with protections sometimes remain detained ^{[3] [1]}.

6. Competing narratives and the takeaway for readers

ICE presents detention as a neutral consequence of immigration enforcement governed by standards and agency procedures ^{[3] [11]}, while watchdogs and reporters document instances where people with legal protections — including green card holders and asylum grantees or claimants — have been detained, sometimes amid questions over due process and oversight ^{[1] [8]}; therefore, the clear, sourced answer is that protected status does not categorically prevent ICE detention, and outcomes turn on legal detail, procedural steps like detainer service, local cooperation, and the produce-of-enforcement context documented by both government and independent sources ^{[4] [2] [1]}.