Key facts
- ICE stopped publicly revealing the locations of thousands of detainees with final deportation orders.
- The change was implemented on September 15, according to current and former ICE officials.
- The move makes it difficult for lawyers and relatives to find detainees.
- The practice could speed up deportations by making last-minute legal challenges harder.
- Detainees at facilities in Adelanto, California, Minneapolis, New York City, and suburban Chicago are excluded from this change.
- ICE stated that detainees with final removal orders are being prioritized for deportation.
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has unannouncedly ceased making public the locations of thousands of detainees who have received final deportation orders, a move that significantly complicates efforts by lawyers and relatives to locate them. The change, which took effect on September 15, removed these individuals from ICE's online detainee locator system.
According to current and former ICE officials speaking to the Associated Press, this departure from previous practice is part of the Trump administration's intensified immigration enforcement. Lawyers have confirmed that their clients have vanished from the system, and the American Immigration Lawyers Association has alerted its members.
Immigration lawyers suggest this measure could expedite deportations by making it harder to pursue last-minute legal challenges. ICE data indicates that in July, nearly 16,000 individuals arrested and booked into detention had final removal orders, representing over a third of all bookings. However, detainees at specific facilities in Adelanto, California, and temporary holding sites in Minneapolis, New York City, and suburban Chicago are exempt due to court orders.
ICE did not publicly announce the change and declined to confirm or deny it in a statement to the AP, only noting that detainees with final orders are prioritized for deportation amid numerous court injunctions. Greg Chen of the American Immigration Lawyers Association expressed concern that families are unaware of their loved ones' whereabouts, potentially believing they have already been deported, and highlighted the severe implications for attorney-client communication.
The Department of Homeland Security maintains that individuals with final removal orders have had due process, typically after an immigration judge orders their removal. Nevertheless, these detainees retain options to challenge their cases, including habeas petitions. As of early July, ICE detention facilities held over 65,000 people, with an estimated 30% having final removal orders, according to Michelle Méndez of the National Immigration Project.
Méndez also noted an increase in final removal orders for individuals who missed hearings, attributing it to administrative changes making court participation and case reopening more difficult. She described the practice as "disappearing people" and a concern for individual rights and due process in the United States.
Some detainees with final orders have protections against deportation based on fears of torture or persecution, and many face removal to third-party countries. Lawyers stated that their disappearance from the system will impede legal challenges. The online locator system, initiated in 2010, previously allowed public searches, replacing the need to contact ICE offices directly. While advocates have criticized the system's slow updates and inaccuracies, the exclusion of detainees with final removal orders appears unprecedented, according to several immigration lawyers. Atenas Burrola Estrada reported that all of their clients with final orders have disappeared from the locator, including eight Somali men detained at Guantánamo Bay, whose attorney, My Khanh Ngo, stated it could make challenging their removals "nearly impossible."