Fight your detention,without a lawyer.

DetentionHelp is a free tool for people in immigration detention in the United States, and their loved ones. It helps you prepare a legal packet to ask a federal court to consider your release from detention. This packet is called a habeas petition.

DetentionHelp was built by legal experts and technologists at three nonprofit organizations: Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project, Human Rights First, and National Immigration Project. These organizations are not part of the U.S. government.

DetentionHelp is a tool that will:

• Ask you up to 20 questions to understand your legal situation and see if the tool can help.
• Give you a chance to choose legal arguments based on your situation.
• Ask you to provide more information to support your case and tell your story in your own words.
• Provide you with a complete PDF packet, including all necessary forms, a legal memorandum, and clear filing instructions.

The tool does not tell you what claims to file and is not a substitute for legal advice. If you are a lawyer representing a client in a habeas case, the tool is not for you.

Yes. Here is a sample packet. This sample is incomplete, so do not submit it to a court.

To get a packet that is ready to file in court, please use our tool. The tool asks you questions and fills in the missing information based on your answers. At the end, you will receive a legal packet that is personal to you.

The sample packet also shows optional forms, such as a court request for a free lawyer. Our tool helps you decide which forms to include.

This tool is for you if:

• You are in immigration detention, or you are trying to help someone in immigration detention. (Note: Immigration detention is sometimes called ICE detention, and it is different from criminal jails or prisons.)
• You are in the United States.
• You want to ask a court to consider your release.
• You need to prepare your habeas petition without a lawyer.

This tool is not designed for people who are in criminal jail or prison or for people who are detained outside of the United States.

Yes, you can use the tool to help someone in detention to prepare their habeas petition. However, the detained person is the one who should decide whether they want to file, decide what claims they want to file, and determine the facts. You should not charge money for use of this tool, or pretend to be a lawyer if you are not one.

The tool asks many questions about the person who is detained. If you are assisting a person who is detained, fill in their information – not yours.

If you use this tool to prepare a habeas petition, the detained person must be the one to sign it. This tool does not currently support filing as a "next friend" on behalf of a detained loved one.

The DetentionHelp tool will ask many questions about the person who is detained -- in order to fill out the necessary legal documents. It is useful to have copies of the detained person's immigration documents to help answer questions.

Throughout the tool, the "you" refers to the person who is detained.

For example, the tool may ask for:

• The name of your detention center
• The date your current detention began
• Your A-Number
• Information about your immigration case
• Problems you have had in detention
• Information about your finances
• Attempts you have made to find a lawyer

The nonprofits that built this tool are not part of the U.S. government. The nonprofits can review the information you submit in the tool for 72 hours. This helps us improve the tool for every immigrant who uses it next. After 72 hours, your information is permanently deleted — no exceptions.

The information you enter in the tool will also be stored locally on your computer or phone. That way, if you click away from the website, you can come back and your work will still be saved. If you are using a shared computer, be sure to clear your data before you leave by selecting the “clear your data” box, so that the next person who uses the computer cannot see your personal information.

The nonprofits that built this tool also collect anonymous usage data, for example about how many people use the tool. This anonymous usage data does not include any personal information.

Read our full privacy policy.

There can be some risk to filing a habeas petition. If you already have a removal order or if you receive one while your habeas petition is pending, ICE could try to speed up its efforts to deport you to your country of origin or to a third country.

On the other hand, if you do not have a removal order and you decide to leave the United States, a habeas petition could sometimes slow down the process of leaving the country.

The main benefit of filing a habeas petition is that a judge could grant the petition and you might be released. Learn more about the chances of success below.

If you are not sure whether filing a habeas petition is right for you, it can help to talk to a lawyer. If you want to look for a private lawyer, you can search for a lawyer here. You can also search for a local immigration organization to ask for help.

Every case is different. Since 2025, thousands of immigrants have won habeas petitions in federal court. But thousands of immigrants have also lost their habeas petitions.

There are also different ways to "win" a habeas petition. In some cases, the judge orders the government to release you from detention. In other cases, the judge orders the government to provide you with a bond hearing in immigration court. Unfortunately, it is possible to lose your bond hearing in immigration court and remain detained, even after "winning" your habeas petition.

What happens in your case depends on the facts of your case, where your court is located, whether you have a lawyer, and your judge.

A habeas petition argues that detention is unlawful. Courts have ordered immigration officials to release an immigrant from detention or provide a bond hearing in different scenarios. Here are some examples:

• The immigrant has been in detention for longer than 6 months.
• The immigrant was previously released from detention, and was re-detained without an adequate reason or without notice. For example, this could happen if the immigrant previously had parole or an Order of Supervision (OSUP).
• An immigration judge denied the immigrant a bond hearing even though they entered the U.S. without encountering immigration officials (called "entering without inspection.")
• The immigrant had a medical emergency in detention.
• The immigrant had immigration status such as Temporary Protected Status (TPS), Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), or Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS).
• The government arrested the immigrant unlawfully.

DetentionHelp asks questions to help you identify what kinds of habeas claims might apply in your case. But DetentionHelp does not include every kind of claim that has worked for someone in the past. You can also read more details about different types of habeas claims in this guide and this resource designed for lawyers.

It depends. Sometimes the judge will order the government to respond quickly, and sometimes the judge will give them more time, for example up to 21 or 30 days. Once the government responds, you should have the opportunity to reply, meaning you can write to the judge and explain why the government is wrong. Sometimes, the judge makes a decision quickly, and sometimes a decision can take several months.

No. A habeas petition and your immigration case are different. Even if you win your habeas petition, it does not affect your immigration case. For example, if you are applying for asylum in immigration court or at USCIS, you would still need to continue the asylum process in immigration court or at USCIS.

If you want to look for a private lawyer, you can search for a lawyer here. You can also search for a local immigration organization to ask for help.

If you file your habeas petition without a lawyer, you can also ask the court to appoint a free lawyer for you. DetentionHelp can help you fill out a request for a lawyer. If the judge grants your request for a lawyer, the court chooses the lawyer for you. But these requests can be difficult, and the judge may deny this request.

You can find more information about habeas petitions in this guide and this resource designed for lawyers.

You can also call a federal court to ask questions about the process of filing a habeas petition. To figure out the correct court to call: go to this court website, check off "U.S. District Courts," and enter the address of the detention center where you are detained. Enter the address in English.

A Number: An A Number is a unique ID number that the U.S. government assigns to immigrants. An A Number is usually 9 digits long and listed on your immigration documents. Sometimes your A Number is called a "File Number," "Alien Number" or "Alien Registration Number." Learn more.

Bond Hearings: Some immigrants in detention can ask an immigration judge to release them through a process called a bond hearing. At a bond hearing, you would explain to the immigration judge why you should be released. Then, if the immigration judge grants bond, they would set an amount of money for you to pay to leave detention. Since 2025, it has become much more difficult for many immigrants to receive a bond hearing or win bond. Learn more.

Legal Filing: A document you officially submit to a court. When you 'file' something, you are sending it to the court to make an official request. In this tool, your legal filing is a habeas petition. By filing your habeas petition, you will start a new case in federal court asking a judge to consider ordering your release from detention.

Order of Supervision (OSUP): An Order of Supervision is a document that allows some immigrants to remain in the United States, if you follow certain requirements like ICE check-ins. Many people with OSUP have a deportation order. Other people with OSUP have received withholding of removal or protection under the Convention Against Torture. See a sample OSUP document.

Parole: Parole is a type of temporary permission to enter the U.S. or stay in the U.S. without being detained. One way to check if you received parole is by checking your paper or online documents. Some people may have received parole documents that look like this, this, this, or this. For example, you might have received parole:

• When you were released from detention previously
• When you entered the U.S., including through the CBP One mobile app
• When you applied through a country-specific program such as CHNV (for Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela), OAW (for Afghanistan), U4U (for Ukraine), or Family Reunification (for El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Colombia)

Removal Order: A removal order is also called a deportation order. If you have a final removal order, the government can try to deport you from the U.S. at any time – unless a federal Court of Appeals has granted you a stay of removal. Here are some possible reasons you might have a removal order. You can also learn more here.

• An immigration judge ordered you removed. The judge's removal order becomes "final" if you do not appeal within 30 days, or if you do appeal but you lose the appeal.
• You did not pass a credible or reasonable fear interview.
• An immigration judge granted "voluntary departure," but you did not leave the U.S. by the date the judge set.
• You were previously deported from the U.S. and you re-entered without permission.

You can also learn more here.

You can contact us at [email protected]!