U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has stopped publicly revealing the locations of over 16,000 detainees with final deportation orders, a change implemented on September 15th. The move, which removes detainees from the agency’s online locator system, has made it significantly more difficult for attorneys and families to track them, potentially hindering last-minute legal challenges and increasing the speed of deportations. Nearly 16,000 people arrested and booked into ICE detention in July were subject to final removal orders, representing more than a third of all bookings, according to data from the Deportation Data Project at UC Berkeley and UCLA. The practice does not apply to facilities in Adelanto, California, or temporary holding facilities in Minneapolis, New York City, and suburban Chicago, where court orders require continued public listing of detainees. The American Immigration Lawyers Association has warned its members about the change, reporting that clients are disappearing from the online system without explanation, causing distress among families who fear deportation without knowledge of their loved ones’ whereabouts. ICE has not publicly announced the change and, in a statement to the Associated Press, did not confirm or deny it, stating only that detainees with final removal orders are being prioritized for deportation despite a ‘historic number of injunctions’ halting individual removals. Greg Chen, senior director of government relations at the American Immigration Lawyers Association, stated that families are “freaking out because they think the person has been deported and they don’t know where the person might be,” and that attorneys face “serious implications for the ability to contact their client.”
Our reading is that ICE is actively reducing transparency regarding detainee locations, potentially streamlining deportations while simultaneously hindering legal challenges. The agency’s silence on this change, coupled with the prioritization of those with final removal orders, suggests a deliberate effort to expedite removals despite ongoing legal obstacles. The distress reported by attorneys and families indicates a significant impact on due process and access to legal representation.
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