16,000 Detainees Vanish From ICE Locator System in New Lawsuit

Four legal service organizations filed a lawsuit on Wednesday in federal court in Boston to stop the Trump administration from hiding the locations of detainees with final deportation orders.

The suit targets a policy adopted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement last month. The change removed the locations of people with final removal orders from the agency's Online Detainee Locator System. Staff were also instructed not to disclose where those individuals are held. As of last month, the policy affected more than 16,000 of the nearly 69,000 people currently in ICE custody.

Lawyers and relatives have used the online locator since 2010 to track detainees transferred between facilities. The new lawsuit argues that the abrupt change makes it difficult or impossible for immigration lawyers to find their clients. The plaintiffs describe the shift as unlawful and inhumane. They claim the policy violates the Administrative Procedure Act because it was adopted without explanation. They also argue it violates the First Amendment by hindering lawyers' ability to advise clients and seek new cases.

Jacquelynne Bowman, executive director of Greater Boston Legal Services, one of the four plaintiffs, said no one should be denied a meaningful opportunity to defend their rights because the government made it impossible for their lawyer to find them. She added that the arbitrary administrative change leaves hundreds of thousands of people at risk of potentially life-altering consequences without essential legal help.

The lawsuit states that lawyers have been unable to locate clients and prospective clients since the policy took effect. Calls to ICE, including its Detention and Removal Information Line, reportedly lead to long wait times, sudden hang-ups, or no answer at all. Some attorneys attempted to use an ICE program for legal calls, but the suit says only a small share of detention centers participate. The organizations say the result has been delayed or missed legal filings and fewer accepted cases.

ICE and the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the suit. The agencies have not publicly confirmed the change. They stated they are prioritizing people with final removal orders for deportation and are dealing with a historic number of court injunctions. They also denied disappearing detainees, noting that detainees can still make phone calls.

Roughly 1.4 million people in the United States are subject to final orders of removal. An immigration judge ordered their deportation, and the ruling was either upheld on appeal or never appealed. Those individuals can still contest their detention and pending removal. Methods include asking to reopen cases, seeking relief from removal to third countries, and challenging rights violations. Federal judges have ruled thousands of times that detainees should be released or given bond hearings.