It can be hard and scary to find someone you care about after they are arrested for immigration reasons. The government keeps people in many different jails and prisons, sometimes far from their family and lawyers.
This guide will help you look for someone who was taken by immigration officers and may be facing deportation.
The government has different offices that deal with immigration. If someone you care about was arrested and you think they may be deported, it helps to know which government office might be holding or detaining them.
Follow these steps to try to figure out where your loved one is being held.
Many people arrested by ICE can be found using ICE’s Online Detainee Locator System. It can take more than a day for someone’s name to show up in the system. People held by CBP should also show up there after 48 hours in custody. There are two ways to look for someone on the Locator. The first way is by searching their alien registration number, called an “A number,” and country of birth. The “A number” starts with the letter A and has 9 numbers. You can find it on papers from immigration, like court notices or receipts for applications or on a work permit. You can also search using the person’s name and country of birth.
Warning: The locator only finds people if you put their name in exactly the same way it was entered by the government worker. You might need to try different versions of their name. If a government worker made a mistake when typing the name, or mixed up the first and last names, it can be harder to find the person.
Exceptions:
Tip: Take a screenshot or picture of any information you find when you search. This information might be useful information later, especially if the person gets moved to a different place. It’s also a good idea to keep a timeline of what happens after the person is arrested. This can help later in trying to get them released and/or with their legal defense.
If you don’t get results from the locator system, try calling or emailing your local ICE Field Office. This office is also called the ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations, or “ERO,” office. The locator might tell you to do this and give you the phone number. You can also find the phone number and email for each office online, here.
Warning: When you call or email, don’t give more information than you need to. Only give the necessary A number or basic information, like name and country of birth, that you would use in the online locator.
Tip #1: ICE Field Offices may not answer the phone. You might need to call many times each day. If you get someone on the phone or by email, ask for the name and contact information for the agent assigned to your loved one’s case. This will be very important if you want to help them try to get out of detention.
Tip #2: Some places have a Community Relations Officer, or CRO, who might be able to help you if the Field Office doesn’t answer. You can find their email by going to this main page on the ICE website and choosing “Office of Partnership & Engagement” in the drop-down menu under “Office Type.”
In 2025, ICE began using prisons run by the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to hold people for immigration cases. People held there should show up on the ICE locator system. But if they don’t show up, and the arrest happened near a BOP facility, try calling that prison for information. You can find a list of phone numbers online here.More and more, the government is charging immigrants with federal crimes related to migration. In these cases, the person might be in a BOP prison and should have a federal public defender (free lawyer). You can search for them using the BOP’s online inmate locator system here.
All immigrants in ICE jails have the right to contact their country’s consulate (an office representing another country). You can try contacting the consulate for more information about your loved one.
Warning: If your loved one is asking for asylum in the U.S. or you believe they are afraid of their government, do not try calling the consulate.
If you can’t find someone using the online locator systems, you might have to start calling each ICE field office and local jails. ICE shares a list (although it’s not always complete) of all the places they are using to hold people. This list is in an excel spreadsheet posted at the bottom of this web page, under the section called “Detention Statistics.” You can see the list of facilities in the tab that says “Facilities FY25,” and then narrow your search by looking at all the jails in your state or nearby states. Also, a group called Freedom for Immigrants has a helpful list of ICE detention centers with information on how to contact people being held there, online here. They also include groups that sometimes visit the facility.
Tip #1: Each ICE Field Office is in charge of certain areas of the country. If someone is arrested in a state that doesn’t have an ICE detention facility, look to find which Field Office covers that state. ICE is likely to be holding the person in one of the other states that the Field Office covers. For example, the Atlanta Field Office covers Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina.
Tip #2: ICE only uses certain jails to detain women. If you’re looking for a female loved one, you can use ICE’s excel sheet to eliminate jails that don’t hold women.
Under the current Trump administration, ICE has arrested people and disappeared them to military bases and jails in other countries, like Guantanamo Bay in Cuba and a prison called the “Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo,” or CECOT, in El Salvador. The CECOT prison has horrific conditions, and the U.S. is claiming it doesn’t have the authority to release someone once they are jailed there.
Source: National Immigration Law Center
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