Detention or deportation does not automatically strip someone of their property rights. Legally, immigrants continue to own their homes, cars, bank accounts, businesses, and personal belongings. In practice, however, many lose access to these assets because they cannot manage them while detained or after being removed from the country.

Once someone is in ICE custody, access becomes extremely limited. Detained immigrants often cannot pay mortgages or rent, access bank accounts, renew car registrations, maintain property, or appear in civil court. As a result, assets are frequently lost: homes go into foreclosure, cars are repossessed, belongings are discarded after eviction, and businesses collapse due to lack of management.

Families sometimes step in by taking over payments, selling property on the person’s behalf, or storing belongings. But many immigrants do not have someone who can legally or safely manage their affairs.

A separate issue is civil asset forfeiture. If ICE or another agency claims that property is connected to a crime, it can be seized even without a criminal conviction. The owner must fight in court to reclaim it — something that is often nearly impossible from detention.

The reality is that many immigrants lose everything. This happens because detention cuts off communication and legal access, deportation often occurs suddenly, people cannot return to the U.S. to manage their property, many fear interacting with courts or banks, some states allow landlords to dispose of belongings after short notice, and civil forfeiture laws place the burden of proof on the owner.

To improve the chances of retaining their assets, immigrants can use several protective strategies: assign power of attorney to someone trustworthy, keep important documents accessible to family, consult an immigration or property attorney, document all assets, and arrange for someone to manage or sell property before deportation.

In the end, the issue is not simply about property; it’s about the human cost of a system that leaves people unable to protect what they’ve worked for. Immigrants may retain their legal rights on paper, but the realities of detention and deportation often make those rights impossible to exercise. Until there are meaningful safeguards that allow people to manage their affairs, countless families will continue to lose homes, vehicles, savings, and livelihoods not because they forfeited them, but because the system made it impossible to hold on.

Congress is often called the “first branch” of government because the Constitution places it at the center of lawmaking and grants it the foundational powers that define the federal system. Its role in creating laws, controlling the budget, and checking the executive and judicial branches reflects the framers’ intention that representative democracy begin with the people’s elected legislature.