Four groups serving immigrants sue ICE over detainee location policy

ICE locator change affected more than 16,000 detainees last month

Four groups that provide legal services to immigrants filed a lawsuit Wednesday in federal court in Boston, seeking to stop a Trump administration policy that removes the locations of detainees with final removal orders from ICE’s Online Detainee Locator System and instructs staff not to reveal their whereabouts. According to the complaint, the policy was adopted suddenly last month to expedite deportations. The groups asked a judge to block what they described as an “unlawful and inhumane” administrative change.

The lawsuit says the policy interferes with immigration lawyers’ rights by making it difficult, and sometimes impossible, to locate their clients. Jacquelynne Bowman, executive director of Greater Boston Legal Services and one of the four plaintiff groups, said: “No one should be denied a meaningful opportunity to defend their rights because the government has made it impossible for their lawyer to find them.” Bowman said the change leaves hundreds of thousands of people at risk of potentially life-altering consequences without essential legal help.

The lawsuit challenges ICE’s decision, first reported by The Associated Press, to remove the locations of people facing final removal orders from the Online Detainee Locator System and to instruct staff not to reveal their whereabouts. As of last month, the move affected more than 16,000 of the nearly 69,000 detainees in ICE custody.

ICE and its parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security, did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment on the lawsuit. The agencies have not publicly confirmed the change, but they said they are prioritizing people with final removal orders for deportation. They also said they face a “historic number of injunctions” from courts blocking their efforts. The agencies denied that they are disappearing detainees, saying they remain free to make phone calls.

Since 2010, lawyers and family members have used the online system to track detainees as they move from facility to facility through ICE’s detention network. Approximately 1.4 million people living in the U.S. are subject to final orders of removal, meaning an immigration judge has ruled they should be deported and the decision has been upheld on appeal or was not appealed.

People with final orders still have options to challenge their detention conditions and looming deportations, including asking to reopen proceedings, seeking relief from removal to third countries and challenging violations of their rights. Federal judges have ruled thousands of times that detainees should be released or granted bond hearings.

Since the change took effect, lawyers have been unable to find clients and potential clients and have spent “significantly more time” tracking down others, the lawsuit says. Calls to ICE, including its Detention and Removal Information Line, “lead to long wait times on hold, sudden hang-ups, a general lack of information or no answer at all,” the complaint says.

Some lawyers have tried an ICE program that schedules legal calls as a workaround, but only a small percentage of detention centers use it, the lawsuit says. The plaintiff organizations said the difficulties have led to delayed or missed legal filings and fewer cases taken.

The lawsuit argues that the change violates the Administrative Procedure Act because it was adopted without an explanation. It also invokes the First Amendment, which the plaintiffs say protects lawyers’ ability to advise people of their legal rights and seek prospective clients.

The dispute concerns whether detainees can obtain legal representation while they remain in ICE custody and face removal. The plaintiffs say the locator policy has obstructed that representation, while the agencies say detainees remain free to make phone calls and that the government is prioritizing people with final removal orders for deportation.