U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has stopped publicly listing the locations of most detainees who have received final deportation orders, according to current and former officials. This change has made it harder for lawyers and family members to track these individuals. ICE removed these people from its online detainee locator system on September 15, as confirmed by three current and former officials who spoke anonymously. Several lawyers reported that their clients had disappeared from the system this week, prompting the American Immigration Lawyers Association to alert its members about the situation on Friday. The policy applies to individuals who have received final removal orders from immigration courts. According to data from the Deportation Data Project at the University of California, Berkeley, and UCLA, nearly 16,000 people arrested and booked into ICE detention in July had such orders, more than a third of all bookings during that time. However, the policy does not apply to detainees held at a facility in Adelanto, California, or at temporary holding centers in Minneapolis, New York City, and suburban Chicago. Judges have required ICE to list these individuals in the online locator immediately upon their arrival, as part of legal cases challenging detention practices. ICE did not officially confirm or deny the change when approached by The Associated Press, but it stated that those with final removal orders are being prioritized for deportation. This comes amid a surge in court injunctions preventing individual removals. The move to conceal their locations adds to the difficulties faced by detainees and their families, who are increasingly pressured to waive appeals and accept deportation. Greg Chen, senior director of government relations at the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said the change has made it difficult for families to find their loved ones and for attorneys to contact their clients. The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, has argued that individuals with final removal orders have already received due process, typically meaning an immigration judge has ordered their removal after a hearing. This includes cases where immigrants failed to appear in court or where the decision was upheld on appeal. Despite having final removal orders, these individuals still have legal options to challenge their detention or removal. They can seek to reopen their cases or file habeas corpus petitions, which ask a court to release them on constitutional grounds. Federal judges have granted thousands of rulings ordering the release of detainees or granting them bond hearings. As of early July, ICE detention facilities held more than 65,000 people, with around 30% likely having final removal orders, according to Michelle Mendez of the National Immigration Project. Some individuals with final removal orders are protected from deportation due to the risk of torture or persecution in their home countries. Many face removal to third-party countries where they have no ties, and their disappearance from ICE’s system makes legal challenges more difficult. Atenas Burrola Estrada, a deputy program director with the Amica Center for Immigrant Rights, said all of her clients with final orders have vanished from the locator system, including 17 as of Monday. Among those missing are eight Somali men detained at the U.S. military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, according to their attorney, My Khanh Ngo of the American Civil Liberties Union. She said the change could make it "nearly impossible" for some people to challenge their removals.