Unannounced change that took effect September 15 is drawing concern from immigration attorneys who say losing access to detainees’ locations could complicate legal representation and communication with families
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has stopped displaying the detention locations of thousands of immigrants who have final removal orders in its public online locator, a significant change that immigration attorneys say could make it much more difficult to find clients after they are taken into federal custody.
The change took effect September 15 without a public announcement from ICE, according to reporting by The Washington Post and The Associated Press. Current and former immigration officials familiar with the change said people with final removal orders were removed from ICE’s Online Detainee Locator System, or ODLS.
The American Immigration Lawyers Association separately reported that its members began noticing in mid-September that the locator was no longer returning information for people with final removal orders. AILA said it was continuing to monitor the development.
Attorneys Say Clients Suddenly Disappeared From Database
The online locator has long allowed attorneys and relatives to search for people in ICE custody using identifying information such as a person’s name, country of birth or immigration identification number.
That system is particularly important because ICE can transfer detainees between facilities, sometimes sending them hundreds or thousands of miles from the communities where they were arrested.
According to The Washington Post, the new practice also restricts immigration personnel from providing detainees’ locations by telephone to attorneys and relatives. The newspaper attributed that information to two former Department of Homeland Security officials who had been briefed on the change.
ICE did not confirm or deny to the newspaper that it had changed the locator system. In a statement, however, the agency said people with final removal orders are being prioritized for deportation and that detainees have access to telephones.
Legal Organizations Raise Due-Process Concerns
Immigration lawyers argue that knowing exactly where a client is being detained can be essential to providing legal representation.
Greg Chen, senior director of government relations for AILA, described the development as “deeply troubling” and expressed concern that reducing access to location information could make it more difficult for attorneys to intervene before a removal takes place.
The issue can become particularly important when lawyers seek emergency relief in federal court.
A habeas corpus petition challenging detention generally must be filed in the appropriate federal judicial district. Lawyers have sometimes used an ICE locator record to establish where their client is being held and therefore which court has jurisdiction. Rapid transfers can complicate that process.
Attorneys told The Washington Post that losing access to the locator could make establishing contact, arranging legal visits and filing time-sensitive challenges substantially more difficult.
Some Legal Organizations Report Multiple Missing Clients
The impact is already being reported by organizations representing immigrants in federal custody.
Atenas Burrola Estrada of the Amica Center for Immigrant Rights told The Washington Post that at least 17 clients represented by the organization abruptly stopped appearing in the database. Staff initially believed the problem was a technical malfunction before concluding that the clients had been removed from public search results.
My Khanh Ngo, a senior staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, said eight clients detained at the U.S. naval base at Guantánamo Bay who are involved in litigation over the facility also disappeared from the locator. She described knowing a client’s detention location as a fundamental part of legal representation.
A Final Removal Order Does Not Always Mean Immediate Deportation
The change primarily affects people who already have final orders of removal, but that legal status does not necessarily mean every person can or will immediately be deported.
Depending on individual circumstances, a person may still have pending litigation, seek to reopen an immigration proceeding, pursue judicial review or request protection from removal because of changed conditions or a risk of persecution or torture.
Some removal orders also result from proceedings conducted in a person’s absence, and immigrants can under certain circumstances ask immigration courts to reopen those cases.
That distinction is one reason attorneys argue that maintaining access to clients can remain important even after a removal order becomes final.
Families Also Depend on the Locator
The effects extend beyond lawyers.
Families have traditionally used the ICE system to determine where relatives are being held, particularly after an arrest or transfer. Location information can help relatives establish telephone contact, arrange visits, provide necessary information to attorneys and determine how to deposit funds into detention accounts.
That becomes more difficult when a detainee is moved repeatedly.
ICE says detainees have access to telephones, but attorneys interviewed by The Washington Post said practical barriers—including availability, waiting times and costs—can make direct communication difficult.
Locator Was Created in 2010
ICE introduced its public detainee locator in 2010 during the Obama administration as part of changes to the immigration detention system.
Before its creation, families and lawyers frequently had to contact individual ICE field offices to determine where someone had been taken.
The searchable system was intended to make that process faster and more transparent, allowing the public to determine whether a person was in ICE custody and locate the facility where the person was being held.
Immigration attorneys say its importance has increased as the federal detention population has grown and detainees are frequently transferred among facilities.
Policy Arrives During Expanded Immigration Enforcement
The database change comes amid the Trump administration’s broader effort to increase immigration arrests, detention and removals.
According to The Washington Post, more than 60,000 people are now held in ICE custody on an average day, approximately twice the level during the Biden administration. Thousands of those detainees have final removal orders.
Administration officials have said people with final orders are a priority for removal. Critics of the locator change, however, argue that enforcement priorities do not eliminate detainees’ ability to pursue whatever legal remedies remain available to them.
The administration has not publicly announced the locator change or provided a detailed public explanation for why detainees with final removal orders are no longer appearing.
For attorneys and families, that unanswered question is becoming increasingly important: when the government takes someone into immigration custody, how quickly, and reliably, should the people trying to represent or locate that person be able to find out where they are?
By The Haitian Tribune Staff | September 21, 2026 | WASHINGTON
By The Haitian Tribune Staff | September 21, 2026 | WASHINGTON
