How to Find a Loved One After a U.S. Immigration Arrest

Finding a loved one after an immigration arrest can feel overwhelming and frightening. People are often held in different jails or detention centers, sometimes far away from their families and legal support.

This guide is designed to help you search for someone who has been taken by immigration authorities and may be facing deportation.

How Can I Tell Which Government Agency is Detaining My Loved One?

Several different government agencies handle immigration matters. If your loved one has been arrested and may be at risk of deportation, it’s important to figure out which agency is holding them. Knowing this will help you find where they are being detained and what steps you can take next.

Agencies:

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE): ICE arrests and detains people inside the United States for immigration reasons. They hold people in many different places, including county jails, private prisons, and government-run detention centers.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP): CBP is responsible for stopping and arresting people near U.S. borders. People taken into CBP custody after crossing the border are often transferred to ICE within a few days, but they may spend some time in CBP facilities first.

Bureau of Prisons (BOP): BOP runs federal prisons for people charged with or convicted of federal crimes. If someone is accused of an immigration-related federal crime—such as entering or reentering the U.S. without permission—they may be in a BOP prison. In some cases, ICE also uses BOP facilities to detain people with deportation cases, even if they do not have criminal charges.

Military Bases: In recent years, the government has used military facilities, including Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, to detain immigrants. Officials have also discussed expanding detention to other military bases for short-term holding.

Finding Someone Detained in the U.S.

1. Start with the Online Detainee Locator

   Many people arrested by ICE can be found using ICE’s Online Detainee Locator System (ODLS). It may take more than a day for someone’s information to appear. People held by CBP usually show up after about 48 hours in custody.

   There are two ways to search in the locator:

   • By A-Number and country of birth. The A-Number (Alien Registration Number) starts with the letter A and has nine digits. You can find it on immigration papers such as court notices, application receipts, or a work permit.

   • By name and country of birth.

   
   

   ⚠️ Important: The locator only works if the name is entered exactly the same way the government worker typed it. If their name was misspelled, reversed (first/last), or entered differently, you may need to try multiple variations.

   Exceptions

   • Children under 18 arrested inside the U.S. do not appear in the locator. If a child is arrested with their parents, they may be held together in a family detention center. Adults in these centers should appear in the locator, but children will not. Sometimes ICE detains fathers separately from their families.

   • Immigrant minors arrested by local police and then transferred to ICE may also not appear. Some are sent to juvenile jails.

   • Victims with certain immigration cases (like T or U visas) usually will not appear in the system.

   
   

   *Tip: Take a screenshot or photo of any information you find in the locator. This can be useful later, especially if the person is moved to another facility. Keeping a timeline of what happens after the arrest can also help if you are working toward their release.

   
   

2. Next, Try to Contact the ICE Field Office

   If the Online Detainee Locator doesn’t give you results, your next step is to call or email your local ICE Field Office, also known as an ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) office. Sometimes the locator itself will direct you to contact the office and provide the phone number. You can also find phone numbers and emails for all Field Offices on ICE’s website.

   
   

   ⚠️ Important Note: When you call or email, share only the minimum information necessary—just the person’s A-Number or their name and country of birth, the same information you would use in the locator.

   
   

   Tips for Contacting a Field Office

   Be persistent: Field Offices often don’t answer the phone right away. You may need to call multiple times each day. If you do reach someone, ask for the name and contact information of the officer in charge of your loved one’s case. This contact can be very important if you are trying to get them released.

   
   

   Community Relations Officers (CROs): Some areas also have a CRO who may respond when the Field Office does not. You can find CRO emails on the ICE website by going to the Office of Partnership & Engagement section in the drop-down menu under “Office Type.”

   
   

3. Next, Try Checking the Bureau of Prisons

   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.

4. Next, Reach out to the Consulates

   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.

5. If You Still Haven’t Found Them, Start Crossing Off Places They Aren’t

   If you still can’t find your loved one through the online locator, the next step may be to start calling ICE Field Offices and local jails directly.

   
   

   ICE posts a list of facilities they use to hold people, but it is not always complete. You can find it in an Excel spreadsheet at the bottom of ICE’s Detention Statistics webpage, under the tab called “Facilities FY25.” From there, you can:

   • Look up facilities by state or nearby states.

   • Narrow your search based on whether your loved one is male or female (ICE only uses certain jails to detain women).

   
   

   Another resource is Freedom for Immigrants, which keeps its own list of ICE detention centers online. Their site also includes contact information for people held in each facility, as well as community groups that sometimes visit those centers.

   
   

   Tips for Searching Facilities

   • Know which Field Office is in charge. Each ICE Field Office covers certain states, even if that state doesn’t have an ICE facility. For example, the Atlanta Field Office oversees Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. If someone is arrested in one of those states, ICE may hold them in a detention center anywhere under Atlanta’s jurisdiction.

   • Check facilities for women separately. ICE only sends women to certain detention centers. Using the ICE spreadsheet, you can cross off facilities that don’t detain women to help narrow your search.

What If You are Worried the Government Sent Your Loved One Overseas?

Under President Trump, ICE has arrested people and disappeared them to military bases and jail 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.

Guantanamo Bay Military

Sometimes, a person sent to Guantanamo Bay will still show up in the Online Detainee Locator. Here are two examples of what their results in the Locator might look like:

ICE has a webpage for the two places at the naval base where people are held, called “JTF Camp 6” and the Migrant Operations Center. The page says to call the Miami Field Office for more information.

CECOT Prison in El Salvador

The U.S. government has sent several flights of detained Venezuelan and Salvadoran immigrants to the CECOT prison. ICE is not sharing publicly who they have sent to CECOT. Some lists have been from news reports and court records. A nonprofit group called “Together and Free” has set up a WhatsApp line where families can report if they think their loved one might be in CECOT.

What to Do When You Find Your Loved One

If they are at Guantanamo Bay: Call the ABA Hotline at 1-855-641-6081 to report their location. This may help the ABA connect them with limited legal help. Only call if you are certain they are at Guantanamo; the hotline is not for general searches.

Finding a lawyer: The government does not provide free lawyers for immigration cases. You can search for legal help here:

Private attorneys: AILA Lawyer Directory

State bar associations: ABA Lawyer Directories

Free or low-cost lawyers: Immigration Advocates Network / Pro Bono Net

Possibility of release: If in ICE custody, your loved one may request release “on recognizance,” on “bond,” or on “parole.” You can support them by gathering proof of community ties (work, school, volunteer records) and letters of support from family or community members.

Know your rights:

If afraid to return home, they should clearly tell every immigration officer.

If they have lived in the U.S. for at least 2 years, they should say so and show proof.

If they have applied for status or filed an appeal, they should tell an officer and show proof.

They should not sign documents without talking to a lawyer, especially papers labeled “waiver,” “stipulated removal order,” or “voluntary departure agreement.”