Groups sue ICE for hiding the location of detainees with deportation orders
Four immigrant legal aid organizations filed a federal lawsuit on Wednesday before the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts to force the government to disclose the location of tens of thousands of people detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) with deportation orders, the Associated Press reported.
The lawsuit seeks to reverse the so-called ODLS Final Order Policy, a measure adopted around September 15 that removed from the public online search system the location of people with administratively final removal orders. According to the lawsuit, the policy was implemented without public announcement or prior notice to detainees or their legal representatives.
Among the plaintiffs are Greater Boston Legal Services and the Rian Immigrant Center. The organizations argue that hiding this information interferes with the work of immigration lawyers by making it difficult or impossible to locate their clients to provide them with essential assistance. "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," said Jacquelynne Bowman, executive director of Greater Boston Legal Services.
According to figures cited in the lawsuit, in July 2026 there was a daily average of 66,904 people in immigration custody. Of that total, about 21,700 —nearly 32%— had final removal orders and were excluded from the search system from the first day the new policy took effect.
The lawsuit cites the case of Noslén Sendra, a Cuban detained at the Krome center in Miami, where a judge warned that the current policy makes it difficult for courts to determine their jurisdiction and hinders lawyers' ability to locate detainees.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has not publicly confirmed the change, but in a statement reported by AP it said that foreigners in custody have various ways to communicate with their families and lawyers, and emphasized that the proper process for those with final orders is removal from the country.
Photo: Cuballama Noticias
Source: Cuballama Noticias