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

• Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, is the part of the government that arrests and holds people if arrested inside the United States for immigration reasons. ICE uses many different places to hold people, including county jails, private prisons, and some detention centers run by the government.
• Customs and Border Protection, or CBP, is the part of the government that stops and arrests people near the U.S. borders. People held by CBP after trying to cross the border are often moved to ICE custody after a few days but may spend time in CBP custody.
• The Bureau of Prisons, or BOP, is the part of the government that runs federal prisons for people who are charged with or found guilty of breaking federal criminal laws. If someone is charged with an immigration-related federal crime, like coming into or reentering the U.S. without permission, they are probably in a BOP prison. ICE has also started using some BOP prisons to hold people who have a deportation case or are waiting for deportation, even if they don’t have criminal charges.
• Military Bases, the Trump administration has started using Guantanamo Bay military base in Cuba to hold immigrants and the administration has said they would like to expand onto new military bases for short-term detention.

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:

• Children under 18 who are arrested inside the U.S. do not show up in the online locator system. If a child is arrested with their parent(s) in the U.S., they may be held together family detention center. Adults held in family detention centers should show up in the online locator system, but their children do not. It is not uncommon for ICE to detain a male parent/guardian in a separate facility from their family.
• If an immigrant minor is arrested by the police and then transferred to ICE, they may not appear in the locator. There is at least one juvenile jail where these minors may be sent.
• If the person who was arrested has an immigration case based on being a victim, like a T or U visa, they usually won’t show up in the locator system.

Tip: Take a screenshot or picture of any information you find when you search. This information might be helpful 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.

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 officer in charge of 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 is 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 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 cross of jails that don’t hold women.

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.

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.