Posting Bond on a Georgia DUI When There Is No ICE Hold

Attorney Answer

If no detainer has actually been lodged, paying the bond should get him released — but the "48 hours" the jail quoted you is not 48 clock hours. That window excludes Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, so an arrest late in the week can stretch well past two calendar days before it closes.

The governing law. On the criminal side, O.C.G.A. § 17-6-1 governs which offences are bailable and by which court and the factors a court weighs in setting bail. That is the framework under which his bond on the DUI and driving-without-a-licence charges was set. Once a bond has been set and posted, the sheriff's authority to hold him rests on something other than the criminal case.

On the immigration side, 8 C.F.R. § 287.7 is the provision that matters. Subsection (a) describes an immigration detainer as advising another law enforcement agency that the Department seeks custody of a noncitizen and as "a request that such agency advise the Department, prior to release of the alien, in order for the Department to assume custody." Subsection (d) then provides that upon issuance of a detainer the agency "shall maintain custody of the alien for a period not to exceed 48 hours, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays."

Read those two subsections together, because the distinction is the answer to your question. The 48-hour cap in subsection (d) applies once a detainer has been issued — it is the ceiling on how long the jail holds him for immigration authorities, not a waiting period the jail must observe before releasing someone with no detainer. If nothing has been lodged when you post the bond, the jail's own booking and release processing is what stands between him and the door, and that is typically hours, not days. Federal courts have addressed whether detainers bind local jails at all, but that conclusion comes from case law rather than from the face of this regulation, so do not expect a Georgia jail to treat a lodged detainer as optional.

What you can do

1. Before you post, call the jail's records division and ask directly whether an immigration detainer or Form I-247A is on file for him. Ask them to check while you are on the line, and write down the name of the person who answered and the time. 2. Post the bond and get a receipt. Keep the receipt and a copy of the bond order — you will need both later to get your money or property released. 3. Ask what time release processing runs. Some jails only process releases in certain shifts, which is often the real reason someone sits after a bond is paid. 4. If a detainer is lodged at any point, call an immigration lawyer the same day. Under 8 C.F.R. § 287.7(d) the window is short and the weekend and holiday exclusion is the difference between having time and having none. 5. Line up a licensed driver to collect him. He is charged with driving without a licence; do not let the ride home from jail create a second charge. 6. Get the paperwork he was given about his driving privilege and note the date on it. That is a separate case from the criminal charge and it has its own deadline.

⏱ Time limits apply. Two clocks matter here. If a detainer issues, 8 C.F.R. § 287.7(d) caps the hold at 48 hours "excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays" — so count business days, not calendar days, when the jail quotes you 48 hours. Separately, his licence case runs on its own track from the criminal case, starting from the notice he was given at arrest, and the two proceedings can end differently on the same stop. The exact dates depend on when he was booked and what his paperwork says.