8 U.S.C. § 1252C
Section 1252c · Authorizing State and local law enforcement officials to arrest and detain certain illegal aliens
This is § 439 of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 26 court decisions — leading case Liranzo v. United States (2012)
Most recently applied in United States v. State of Texas (March 2024)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, to the extent permitted by relevant State and local law, State and local law enforcement officials are authorized to arrest and detain an individual who—
(1) is an alien illegally present in the United States; and
(2) has previously been convicted of a felony in the United States and deported or left the United States after such conviction,
but only after the State or local law enforcement officials obtain appropriate confirmation from the Immigration and Naturalization Service of the status of such individual and only for such period of time as may be required for the Service to take the individual into Federal custody for purposes of deporting or removing the alien from the United States.
The Attorney General shall cooperate with the States to assure that information in the control of the Attorney General, including information in the National Crime Information Center, that would assist State and local law enforcement officials in carrying out duties under subsection (a) of this section is made available to such officials.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Codification
This section was enacted as part of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, and not as part of the Immigration and Nationality Act which comprises this chapter.