U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has stopped publicly disclosing the locations of thousands of detainees facing final deportation orders, making it significantly harder for attorneys and family members to locate them. The unannounced change affects individuals who have exhausted their legal appeals and are awaiting removal from the country.
System Change Affects Thousands
ICE removed these detainees from its online locator system on September 15, according to three current and former agency officials who spoke anonymously. Immigration attorneys across the country confirmed their clients suddenly disappeared from the public database, prompting the American Immigration Lawyers Association to issue warnings to its membership on Friday about the situation.
The change applies to detainees with final removal orders from immigration courts, which could accelerate deportations by complicating last-minute legal challenges. Nearly 16,000 people booked into ICE detention during July had final removal orders, representing more than one-third of total bookings that month, according to data from the Deportation Data Project at U.C. Berkeley and UCLA.
Exceptions and Legal Concerns
The new practice excludes detainees held at facilities in Adelanto, California, and temporary holding centers in Minneapolis, New York City, and suburban Chicago. Federal judges previously ordered ICE to promptly list detainees at these locations in the online system as part of litigation over detention practices at those specific facilities.
Greg Chen, senior director of government relations at the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said families are experiencing significant distress. Relatives often cannot determine whether detainees have been deported or simply moved to different facilities. The change also disrupts attorney-client relationships when lawyers lose contact with their clients without explanation.
Constitutional Rights Remain
The Department of Homeland Security maintains that individuals with final removal orders have received due process through immigration court proceedings and appeals. However, these detainees retain constitutional rights to challenge their detention through petitions to reopen cases or habeas corpus filings. Federal judges have granted thousands of rulings ordering releases or bond hearings for detainees in similar circumstances.
ICE detention facilities housed more than 65,000 people as of early July, with approximately 30 percent likely having final removal orders, according to Michelle Mendez, legal director at the National Immigration Project. The agency did not confirm or deny the policy change when contacted, stating only that detainees with final orders were being prioritized for deportation despite facing numerous court injunctions blocking individual removals.
