ICE Faces Federal Lawsuit Over Hiding Detainee Locations from Families and Lawyers
Legal groups sue ICE over a controversial policy that hides the locations of thousands of detainees, preventing lawyers and families from finding immigrants.
POLICY WIRE — Boston, Mass. — Four legal service organizations have launched a federal lawsuit on Wednesday against a Department of Homeland Security policy that obscures the physical locations of thousands of immigrants currently awaiting deportation.
The plaintiffs argue that these new restrictions significantly hinder legal counsel and family members from locating their loved ones in federal custody.
Since its inception in 2010, the online detainee locator system served as a transparent tool for the public, relatives, and attorneys to search for individuals held by immigration authorities.
Legal professionals have reported that many of their clients have effectively vanished from the digital database following the implementation of the new agency protocols.
The shift specifically involves removing thousands of individuals who have received final removal orders from the online system, a move critics say makes tracking detainees much more difficult.
This policy aligns with aggressive enforcement strategies previously seen during the Trump administration aimed at accelerating the deportation process by limiting information access.
In a related development, a nursing professor in California is among thousands of immigrants now excluded from the public database, prompting a local congressman to publicly demand their immediate release.
Reporting by Policy-Wire (PW)
