Immigration detention is civil, not criminal, and almost every consequence of that distinction cuts against the person detained. This article explains what that means in practice: no right to appointed counsel, no bail as most people understand it, and a detention decision made by an agency before any judge sees the case. It walks through how someone actually gets detained, how to find them, and what determines whether they can be released. It explains the difference between discretionary bond and mandatory detention, why the mandatory category is far broader than most families expect, and what a bond hearing actually involves. Later parts cover detention after a removal order and the six-month rule that limits it, expedited removal, alternatives to detention, and the conditions litigation that runs alongside individual cases. A worked example follows one detained person from arrest through release, and the article closes with what a family should do in the first forty-eight hours.