Questions About Status
ORC 2921.29 — three bodies of law at one roadside, and people collapse them
Three separate bodies of law can be operating at one roadside at the same time, and almost every wrong answer about this comes from treating them as one. What Ohio requires a person to say is one question. What federal law requires certain people to carry is another. What a document marked warrant actually is, is a third.
Who handles this in Ohio: Ohio State Bar Association lawyer referral; and legal aid programs and the state offices, listed in the Ohio directory.
Ohio's requirement is narrow and does not change here. Where an officer reasonably suspects a person of a crime, or of having witnessed a felony, the statute requires name, address and date of birth. That is the list. No Ohio statute requires a person to answer questions about citizenship, birthplace, or how they entered the country, and the identify section on this site sets out the same limit for everyone.
The constitutional protections are not tied to status. The Fourth and Fifth Amendments run to persons, not to citizens. Whatever the answer is about a particular search or a particular question, it is not different because of where somebody was born, and nothing on this site changes for that reason.
Federal law does carry a document requirement, and it is worth stating precisely because it is usually stated loosely. A noncitizen eighteen or over must at all times carry and have in personal possession any certificate of alien registration or registration receipt card that was issued to them. Failure is a federal misdemeanor with a fine of up to one hundred dollars, up to thirty days, or both.
- The duty attaches to a document that was issued. It is a carry requirement for people who have one, not a general obligation to produce proof of status on demand.
- It is a federal offense enforced federally. It is not among the things Ohio's failure to disclose statute reaches.
- The penalty in the statute is small, and being arrested on it is not the same event as the immigration consequences that people usually mean when they ask about it.
| Document | Who signs it | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| DocumentA search or arrest warrant | Who signs itA judge or magistrate | What it isA judicial order, on probable cause found by a neutral officer of the court |
| DocumentImmigration detainer, Form I-247A | Who signs itAn immigration officer | What it isA notice to another agency that the Department seeks custody |
| DocumentWarrant for arrest of alien, Form I-200 | Who signs itAn immigration supervisor | What it isAn administrative document of the agency, despite the word on it |
Whether a detainer commands anything is genuinely contested, and this site does not resolve it. The regulation is written in the language of obligation, saying the receiving agency shall maintain custody for a period. Courts considering it have widely treated a detainer as a request rather than an order, reasoning that holding a person past the point they would otherwise be released is a fresh seizure and needs what any seizure needs. The word on the form and the way courts have read it do not match, and a person told a detainer requires something is being told one half of a live dispute.
Immigration consequences attach to arrests, charges and convictions in ways that ordinary criminal advice does not cover, and the two questions are answered by different lawyers. Nothing here describes what any particular case means for status. That is work for an immigration attorney, alongside whatever a licensed Ohio attorney says about the charge itself.
Sources for this section (5)
- ORC 2921.29 — Failure to disclose one's personal information
- 8 U.S.C. 1304(e) — Requirement that a noncitizen eighteen or over carry any certificate of alien registration issued to them
- 8 C.F.R. 287.7 — Immigration detainers, the form they take, and the custody they ask for
- U.S. Const. amend. IV — Searches and seizures
- U.S. Const. amend. V — Rights in criminal cases, self incrimination
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of September 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed Ohio attorney.