# What to do if you have an arrest warrant in El Paso

> Find out which court issued it and what the cause number is before you act. A City of El Paso municipal warrant, a county misdemeanor warrant and a felony warrant are handled in different courts on different timelines. Turning yourself in without knowing which one you have can cost you a bond hearing.

Published 2026-08-03 · Statutes checked 2026-09-14 · Practice: [Criminal Defense Lawyer](/practice/criminal)

Most people learn about a warrant in one of three ways: a traffic stop, a phone call from a relative, or a letter that arrives months after the thing it refers to. None of those tell you what you actually need to know, which is which court is holding it and what it is for.

Start there. That one fact decides everything that follows. It decides where a bond is posted, who you talk to, how quickly the warrant can be lifted, and whether the day ends at a counter or in custody. Acting before you know it is the most common and most expensive mistake.

## How to find out if you have a warrant in El Paso

Warrant records are held by the courts that issue them, and those courts keep separate records. A clean search of one court does not mean there is nothing waiting in another. Checking all of them is the only search worth trusting.

A defense lawyer can run that check for you and can call the clerk's office without putting you at a counter while the warrant is active. That matters. Walking into a building to ask about your own warrant is the one search that can end with you in handcuffs.

Whoever does the checking, you want five things written down before anyone makes another move.

- The court that issued the warrant, by name and number.
- The cause number, which is how every clerk and officer will find the file.
- The offense charged, and whether it is filed as a felony, a Class A, a Class B or a Class C misdemeanor.
- Whether a bond amount has already been set, or whether it still has to be set by a magistrate.
- The date the warrant issued, and what it came out of. A missed setting and a new charge are different problems.

## The three kinds of warrant, and why the difference matters

City of El Paso ordinance citations and many fine only Class C offenses go to the El Paso Municipal Court. Warrants from that court usually grow out of a citation somebody stopped answering: a missed setting, an unpaid fine, a plan that lapsed. They are the least complicated to resolve and they are still a live order for your arrest.

Citations written by a sheriff's deputy, a constable or a state trooper outside municipal jurisdiction may go instead to an El Paso County Justice of the Peace court. The citation itself controls where you answer, not where you live. People lose warrants this way, by answering in the wrong building and assuming it was handled.

Class A and Class B misdemeanor cases are county level matters. County Court at Law No. 7 handles both civil and criminal matters. Felony cases sit in the district courts, which in El Paso include the 34th, 120th, 168th, 171st, 210th, 243rd, 346th and 384th, plus Criminal District Court No. 1. Court assignments change over time, so the current court directory governs, not a list you read somewhere last year.

## What happens after an arrest on a warrant in Texas

Texas generally requires that an arrested person be taken before a magistrate without unnecessary delay and no later than 48 hours after the arrest. That appearance is not a trial and it is not a chance to explain yourself. The magistrate tells you what you are accused of, advises you of your rights, and addresses conditions of release.

Texas also has release rules that turn on whether the State is ready to proceed. They run broadly 90 days for a felony, 30 days for a Class A misdemeanor, 15 days for a Class B and five days for a Class C, each with statutory conditions and exceptions. They are not a countdown to dismissal and they do not run themselves. They are one of several things a lawyer watches while you are in custody.

## How a warrant gets cleared without a night in jail

The usual approach is to arrange the bond before the surrender rather than after it. A bond is set up in advance, you surrender at a scheduled time, you are booked, and you are released on the bond that is already in place. That is what people mean by a walk through.

Whether that is available depends on the charge, the court and whether a bond amount has been set yet. Some warrants require a magistrate to set the amount first, which changes the timing. Nobody can tell you in advance how a particular surrender will go, and anyone who does is guessing.

Timing is worth planning. A surrender early in the day, earlier in the week, and away from a holiday moves through booking differently than one late on a Friday afternoon. That is process, not a promise, but it is worth an hour of planning.

## What to do before you turn yourself in

- Talk to a defense lawyer first, before you call the court and before you go anywhere.
- Have the bond arranged before you surrender, not while you are sitting in booking.
- Bring your identification and nothing else. No pocket knife, no medication without knowing the facility's rules, no extra property to inventory.
- Clear the whole day. Do not schedule work, childcare or an appointment on the other side of it.
- Arrange a ride both ways. Do not drive yourself, especially if your license status is part of the problem.
- Tell one family member where you are going and who to call.

### What not to do while the warrant is open

Do not call the court to explain what happened. Clerks are not the audience for your side of the story, calls are often recorded, and nothing you say at that window helps the case. Give them the cause number and nothing else.

Do not talk about the facts with the officer who books you, with the person next to you, or on a jail phone. Jail calls are recorded and routinely reviewed. That rule holds even when you are certain the explanation helps you.

Do not wait it out. A warrant does not go away on its own with time, and it does not stay local. It surfaces at a traffic stop, at a license renewal, at a background check, at a border crossing, usually at the worst possible moment. The version of this problem you solve on your own schedule is smaller than the version that solves itself.

## Warrants from Hudspeth County and from New Mexico

Hudspeth County is a separate county with its own courts and its own filing offices. A warrant there is answered there. An El Paso County check tells you nothing about it.

Doña Ana County sits in New Mexico's Third Judicial District. If the incident happened in Anthony, Sunland Park, Santa Teresa or Las Cruces, it is a New Mexico matter under New Mexico procedure, with its own courts and its own deadlines. Living in El Paso does not move it. This is a common problem in this region, and it is why a lawyer licensed in both Texas and New Mexico is useful here in a way that would not matter somewhere else.

## What happens to the arrest record afterward

Ask about the record at the beginning rather than at the end, because how a case closes affects what can be done about the record later. Expunction is available only in defined situations, including some acquittals, pardons, qualifying dismissals, and arrests that were never charged once the applicable waiting period has passed. An order of nondisclosure seals eligible records from much public access, though not from every government user.

Those are different remedies with different eligibility rules, and neither is automatic. The path your case takes now is what determines which one, if either, is on the table.

## Talking to a lawyer about a warrant

A first conversation about a warrant is short and practical. Which court, which cause number, what the charge is, whether a bond is set, and what the surrender should look like. You do not need to have the facts of the case sorted out before you make that call, and you should not try to.

Wyatt, Underwood and Grasheim is a trial firm in El Paso at 705 Texas Ave #100, and the telephone number is (915) 485-9100. Spanish is spoken at the firm. All three partners try cases, in Texas and in New Mexico.

This article is general information about how warrants move through Texas courts. It is not legal advice about your situation, and reading it does not create an attorney client relationship. Procedure changes, court assignments change, and the facts of a particular warrant change what should happen next. Talk to a lawyer about your own case before you act on anything here.

## Questions people ask about this

### Can I check for a warrant myself in El Paso?

You can, and you should before anyone else does it for you. Municipal, county and district records are held separately, so a clean result in one does not mean there is nothing in another. The safer version is to have a lawyer make the calls, because showing up at a counter in person while a warrant is active can end in an arrest that day.

### How long after an arrest do you see a judge in Texas?

Texas generally requires that an arrested person be taken before a magistrate without unnecessary delay and no later than 48 hours after arrest. That appearance is where you are told the charge, advised of your rights, and where conditions of release are addressed. It is not a hearing about whether you did it, and it is not the place to explain the facts.

### Will an old warrant in El Paso eventually expire?

Do not count on time solving it. A warrant does not disappear on its own, and it is not confined to the county that issued it. Most people find out the hard way, at a traffic stop, a license renewal, a background check or a border crossing. Dealing with it on a schedule you choose is almost always easier than dealing with it on someone else's.

### Do I need a bond before I turn myself in?

Usually you want one arranged first. The common approach is to set the bond up in advance, surrender at a scheduled time, and be released on the bond already in place rather than waiting in custody for one. Whether that works depends on the charge, the court, and whether an amount has been set yet or still has to be set by a magistrate.

### What if my warrant is from Las Cruces or Sunland Park?

That is a New Mexico matter. Doña Ana County is in New Mexico's Third Judicial District, and an incident in Anthony, Sunland Park, Santa Teresa or Las Cruces is handled under New Mexico procedure in New Mexico courts. Living in El Paso does not move it across the state line. You want someone licensed on the side of the line where the case sits.

### Is any of this legal advice about my warrant?

No. This is general information about how warrants are handled in Texas courts, written so you know what the process looks like before you make a decision. It is not advice about your matter and it does not create an attorney client relationship. The right next step depends on the court, the charge and the facts, so talk to a lawyer about your own case.

## Talk to a partner

The case review is free, the call comes from a partner, and you get a straight answer either way. Even if the answer is that you do not need us.

Call [(915) 485-9100](tel:+19154859100) or use the chat at the bottom right of any page. Hablamos español.

Wyatt, Underwood & Grasheim
705 Texas Ave #100
El Paso, TX 79901
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General information about Texas procedure, not legal advice about your matter. Reading this page does not make the firm your lawyer. See the [Terms of Use](/terms).