ICE Detention Release Scope
No official source reviewed identified Ascension Parish Jail as a current dedicated ICE detention facility or contract site. This is a bounded finding, not proof that a person can never move from local custody to ICE. APSO can end its physical booking when ICE takes custody, and the receiving federal system then controls the next status.
ICE’s Online Detainee Locator System, or ODLS, searches adults in current ICE custody and certain people in CBP custody for more than 48 hours. It is not a durable history of people once detained. It also does not search persons under 18. Those limits make a no-result too weak to prove release.
Search ICE Detention Status
The ICE Online Detainee Locator offers two main search paths. The A-number route is usually the more exact choice when the identifier and country of birth are known. The biographical route requires exact name information and country of birth, with date of birth where available.
- Use the A-number search with the nine-digit number and country of birth.
- If the A-number has fewer than nine digits, add leading zeros as the locator instructs.
- For a name search, enter the exact first and last name plus country of birth.
- Add date of birth when available and check spelling, hyphens, and name order carefully.
- Read the returned facility or custody information as a current report.
- When no result appears, correct identity data and use the ICE assistance line rather than declaring release.
Preserve the query date and the identifiers used. A current result can change after movement, release, or a data update. Unneeded personal details should not be copied or spread beyond what is required to match the person.
ICE Release No-Result Limits
A missing ODLS result has several possible meanings. The person may have been released, transferred, entered too recently for data to load, fallen outside the locator’s covered categories, or been searched with incorrect identity data. A person under 18 will not appear. Exact spelling and country-of-birth selection can also determine whether a match is returned.
| ODLS outcome | What it can support | What it cannot prove |
|---|---|---|
| Current facility result | Covered ICE or qualifying CBP custody as reported | Future release date or final case outcome |
| No result | No match under the submitted data | Historic release, community freedom, or no immigration case |
| Transferred location | A change in detention place | Release from federal custody |
| APSO transfer to ICE | End of the parish booking and federal handoff | Community release at the APSO exit time |
ODLS should not be treated like the BOP historical locator. BOP preserves sentenced federal records from a stated historical period, while ICE describes a current detainee search. Each system’s silence has a different meaning.
ICE Detention Status Contact
When the online locator does not resolve a current status question, ICE provides the Detention Reporting and Information Line. The research lists 1-888-351-4024, Monday through Friday excluding holidays, 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern. Language assistance is available.
ICE Detention Reporting and Information LinePhone: 1-888-351-4024
Monday through Friday, excluding holidays
8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern
Language assistance available
Have the A-number, full name, country of birth, date of birth, and the known APSO transfer information ready. Ask what current status can be confirmed. The line is not a substitute for the immigration court record, a formal agency record request, or legal advice about proceedings.
Note: Call after checking exact spelling and A-number format so a preventable search error is not mistaken for an ICE release.
Ascension ICE Release Handoff
The APSO booking inquiry owns the local physical-custody event. An actual Release Date and time can show when that Ascension booking ended. A disposition or receiving-agency entry must then explain the destination. If ICE is named, the correct description is transfer or handoff at that moment.
Search ODLS with the receiving information. If a current ICE match appears, custody plainly continued. If no match appears, use ICE assistance and any immigration-court information. Do not convert the gap between two systems into an unsupported statement that the person returned to the community.
The Ascension Parish release search explains how to select the correct APSO booking episode and distinguish actual from scheduled release dates. The local court record may explain the criminal case, but it does not control the later federal civil detention event.
A focused APSO request can make the handoff clearer when the online detail is thin. Identify the person, booking number, and episode date, then ask for the nonexempt movement or disposition line, the actual time parish custody ended, and the receiving agency. The APSO public-record instructions require that request to be written and mailed by USPS to the legal-affairs custodian. The local response can establish that ICE was the next owner of custody. It still cannot establish when ICE later released or moved the person.
ICE Detention Release Record Sources
A complete record trail can involve several owners. APSO holds the parish booking and transfer line. ICE owns its detention and release information. The immigration court controls its case record. A criminal court may have separate bond, sentence, or dismissal entries. One agency’s record should not be used to speak for all of them.
- A-number
- An immigration identifier used with country of birth in ODLS.
- Detainer
- A request or hold that can lead to transfer to another authority.
- Handoff
- The end of one custodian’s physical control and transfer to another.
- Community release
- Departure from custody without an immediate receiving custodian, subject to any legal conditions.
For a records request, identify the person, the APSO booking number and date, the actual local exit time, and the named receiving agency. For ICE, follow the federal agency’s current records process. Preserve agency responses with their dates because current detention status can change.
Build the chronology without filling gaps by inference. An APSO timestamp can be followed by an ICE facility result, then a later federal response or court entry. Each item should be labeled by its owner and query date. A local charge dismissal may explain why APSO no longer held the person, yet an immigration detainer can still explain the immediate federal handoff. Likewise, a later immigration-court event does not retroactively change what the jail movement record reported. Keeping those dates separate prevents a criminal-case outcome from being mistaken for an ICE detention release.
ICE Versus Other Release Systems
ICE, BOP, Louisiana DPS&C, and APSO are separate. BOP covers federal criminal imprisonment. ICE covers federal civil immigration detention. DPS&C covers Louisiana state sentences and state community supervision. APSO covers Ascension Parish jail booking and movement.
A person can move through more than one system. For example, APSO can record an exit to federal custody, and ICE may later move the person. A BOP “Not in BOP Custody” result does not answer ICE status. A DPS&C no-match does not answer either federal system. Follow the named custodian in chronological order.
Federal release can also leave legal obligations. Immigration proceedings may continue outside detention, just as federal criminal supervised release can follow BOP custody. ODLS alone does not explain the full case posture.
USMS custody requires another distinction. A federal pretrial prisoner can be held at a local or contract site without becoming a sentenced BOP prisoner. The BOP locator may therefore fail to answer a federal pretrial question, just as ODLS may fail to preserve a past ICE event. The transfer notation and federal case record should determine which federal branch to contact. Searching every locator at random is less reliable than following the agency named in the latest confirmed movement.
Ascension Jail ICE Context
APSO reports that Ascension Parish Jail has operated since 1976. Its 2022 report described a historical average above 400 incarcerated people and more than 70 corrections officers, while the current page describes capacity above 500 beds. These figures provide local facility context only.
They do not show how many people entered ICE custody, how many federal holds existed, or how many immigration releases occurred. No dedicated ICE site was identified in the parish. A large local jail can still transfer a person to a federal custodian without becoming part of the ICE detention system.
Does an old APSO release date prove an ICE release? No. It proves only that the selected parish booking ended at that time. The receiving-agency record must carry the status forward.