Groups providing legal services to immigrants have filed a federal lawsuit seeking to halt a recent Trump administration policy that obscures the whereabouts of tens of thousands of detainees facing final deportation orders. The suit, filed in Boston, argues that the policy, adopted last month to expedite deportations, infringes upon the rights of immigration lawyers by making it difficult or impossible to locate their clients.
The lawsuit challenges U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) decision to remove the locations of individuals with final removal orders from its Online Detainee Locator System. As of last month, this change impacted over 16,000 of the nearly 69,000 detainees in ICE custody. The plaintiffs are requesting a court order to block what they describe as an "unlawful and inhumane" policy shift.
"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," stated Jacquelynne Bowman, executive director of Greater Boston Legal Services, one of the four plaintiff groups. "This arbitrary new administrative change leaves hundreds of thousands of people at risk of potentially life-altering consequences without essential legal help."
ICE and the Department of Homeland Security have not publicly confirmed the policy change but have stated they are prioritizing individuals with final removal orders for deportation. They have also cited a "historic number of injunctions" from courts blocking their efforts, while denying they are making detainees disappear and asserting that detainees can still make phone calls. The online locator system has been used by lawyers and family members since 2010 to track detainees moving through ICE's detention network.
Approximately 1.4 million people in the U.S. are subject to final orders of removal. These individuals still have avenues to challenge their detention conditions and deportation orders, such as reopening proceedings or seeking relief from removal to third countries. Federal judges have previously ruled in thousands of cases for detainees to be released or granted bond hearings.
According to the lawsuit, since the policy's implementation, lawyers have struggled to locate clients and potential clients, dedicating "significantly more time" to finding individuals. Calls to ICE, including its Detention and Removal Information Line, reportedly result in long wait times, dropped calls, a lack of information, or no response at all. Some attorneys have attempted to use an ICE program for scheduling legal calls, but its limited availability at detention centers has led to delayed or missed legal filings and a reduction in the number of cases they can take on.
The lawsuit contends that the policy violates the Administrative Procedure Act due to its adoption without public explanation and the First Amendment, which safeguards attorneys' ability to advise individuals of their legal rights and to seek prospective clients.