ICE Hides Location of 16,000 Detainees From Their Lawyers

Four organizations that provide legal aid to immigrants filed a lawsuit in a federal court in Boston on Wednesday. The suit seeks to stop the Department of Homeland Security from hiding the location of detainees who have final deportation orders.

The policy began last month. It removed the locations of more than 16,000 people from the ICE Detainee Locator System. Those individuals are part of a total population of nearly 69,000 people in ICE custody.

Before this change, lawyers and family members used the online system to track detainees as they moved between facilities. The lawsuit states that the new rule interferes with the right to counsel. It makes it difficult or impossible for attorneys to find their clients.

Jacquelynne Bowman is the executive director of Greater Boston Legal Services. She is one of the four groups that filed the complaint. "No one should be denied a real opportunity to defend their rights because the government has made it impossible for them to be located by their lawyer," Bowman said. She added that the change leaves hundreds of thousands of people without essential legal help.

The complaint calls the administrative change illegal and inhumane. It asks a judge to block the policy. The lawsuit argues that the rule violates the Administrative Procedure Act because it was adopted without explanation. It also claims a First Amendment violation regarding the ability of lawyers to advise clients and seek new cases.

The Department of Homeland Security has not publicly confirmed the change. However, agency officials have said they prioritize deporting people with final removal orders. They also noted they face a record number of preliminary injunctions from courts blocking their efforts.

In response to the lawsuit, the Department of Homeland Security issued a statement. "Illegal aliens in detention have several ways to communicate with their families and lawyers," the statement read. "The appropriate process for an illegal alien with final deportation orders is deportation, simply put."

ICE and the Department of Homeland Security deny that they are making detainees disappear. They say the individuals still have the freedom to make phone calls. However, the lawsuit says calls to ICE, including the Detention and Deportation Information Line, result in long wait times and sudden disconnections.

Some lawyers have tried to use an ICE program that schedules legal calls. This program is only used by a small percentage of detention centers. The organizations say this has led to delayed or missed legal filings.

Approximately 1.4 million people living in the United States are subject to final deportation orders. These people can still challenge the conditions of their detention. They can request a reopening of proceedings or seek relief from removal to a third country. Federal judges have ruled in thousands of cases that detainees must be released or given bail hearings.