Four legal-services organizations sued the federal government on October 28, 2026, asking a judge to block a policy that removes detained people with final removal orders from the online location system. The case names U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as the agency whose practice is being challenged.
The complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts in Boston. It is captioned Greater Boston Legal Services et al. v. Mullin, Case Number 26-14869.
The organizations say the change prevents them from locating and communicating with clients and prospective clients. They ask the court to block what they call an “unlawful and inhumane” policy.
As of last month, the change affected more than 16,000 of the nearly 69,000 people held in the agency’s custody. The lawsuit seeks a court order; the filing itself does not grant one.
The locator change leaves some detainees outside the search system
The plaintiffs are Rian Immigrant Center, Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project, Amica Center for Immigrant Rights and the organization named in the case caption. Their lawyers include the National Immigration Law Center, National Immigration Project, American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Massachusetts and Annelise Araujo Law.
The Associated Press first reported that the agency had removed people facing removal from its Online Detainee Locator System. Three current and former agency officials said the listings disappeared on September 15. They said staff were also told not to disclose the detainees’ locations. The department did not publicize the change.
Lawyers and family members had used the locator since 2010 to find people moved between detention facilities. The Department of Homeland Security had made those locations available for more than 16 years, the complaint says. In September, the department stopped sharing locations online and in direct replies to relatives’ and attorneys’ inquiries.
The policy does not cover people held at a facility in Adelanto, California, or at temporary holding sites in Minneapolis, New York City and suburban Chicago. Judges have ordered the agency to list people at those facilities promptly after arrival as part of separate litigation over detention practices.
ICE data obtained by the Deportation Data Project, based at U.C. Berkeley and UCLA, showed nearly 16,000 people arrested and booked into detention in July had final orders. That was more than a third of all bookings.
Lawyers say the missing listings are delaying filings and consultations
Several lawyers told the Associated Press that clients vanished from the locator during the week the change took effect. The American Immigration Lawyers Association warned its members about the situation on Friday.
The complaint alleges the policy violates the Administrative Procedure Act because it is arbitrary and capricious and was adopted without explanation. It also alleges a First Amendment violation, saying the restriction interferes with lawyers’ ability to advise people about their rights, communicate with detainees and families, and seek prospective clients.
The organizations also allege a Freedom of Information Act violation, arguing that the government failed to publish details of the policy. The complaint says lawyers have spent “significantly more time” trying to locate clients and potential clients.
Calls to the agency’s Detention and Removal Information Line bring long waits, sudden hang-ups, little information or no answer, the lawsuit says. Some lawyers have tried to arrange contact through an agency program that schedules legal calls. Only a small percentage of detention centers use it.
The organizations say the barriers have led to delayed or missed legal filings and fewer cases taken. ACLU attorney My Khanh Ngo told MPR that the change makes it “nearly impossible” to challenge removals: “If you can't find your client, don't know what's happening to your client, you can't get that information to the court to stop their removal.”
The government says detainees can call, while the suit points to legal remedies
The agencies have denied that they are disappearing detainees, saying people in custody remain free to make phone calls. The department and the agency did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment on the lawsuit.
In a statement to the Associated Press, the agency said detainees with removal orders were being prioritized for deportation while it faced a “historic number of injunctions” from courts stopping individual removals. The Department of Homeland Security has argued that people with final orders received due process, usually after an immigration judge ordered removal following a hearing. Those cases can include people who did not appear; the decision may have been affirmed on appeal or left unappealed.
Jacquelynne Bowman, executive director of the plaintiff organization, said the policy could leave people unable to defend their rights. “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. This arbitrary new administrative change leaves hundreds of thousands of people at risk of potentially life-altering consequences without essential legal help.”
Greg Chen, senior director of government relations at the American Immigration Lawyers Association, described families’ concern when they could not locate a detained relative. “Families are freaking out because they think the person has been deported and they don't know where the person might be.” He said the barrier also affects attorneys’ ability to contact clients and their attorney-client relationships.
Approximately 1.4 million people living in the United States are subject to final orders of removal. They may ask to reopen proceedings, seek relief from removal to third countries, challenge violations of their rights or file a habeas petition seeking release on constitutional grounds. Federal judges have ordered detainees released or granted bond hearings thousands of times.
The plaintiffs plan to seek a court pause as the case proceeds
The organizations ask the court to vacate the policy and say they “will shortly file a motion to stay the new policy while their case proceeds.” The lawsuit argues that people who cannot reach counsel or the courts may lose the chance to seek available remedies before deportation.
The filing follows a policy change that the agency has linked to prioritizing people with final orders for deportation. The plaintiffs’ planned motion would ask the court to pause that practice while the case continues.
This article provides general information and is not legal advice. Consult a qualified immigration attorney about your specific case.
