How to Find an ICE Detainee After an Immigration Arrest

To find an ICE detainee, use the Online Detainee Locator System at locator.ice.gov. It shows anyone currently held by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, plus anyone held by Customs and Border Protection for more than 48 hours. You can search by Alien Registration Number (A-Number) and country of birth, or by full legal name, date of birth, and country of birth. If the online search comes up empty, call the ICE Detention Reporting and Information Line at 1-888-351-4024.

What to Gather Before You Search

The single most useful piece of information is the person’s A-Number, a unique identifier assigned by the Department of Homeland Security that runs seven, eight, or nine digits.¹ Check any prior immigration paperwork: work permits, green cards, notices from immigration court. A search by A-Number is far more reliable than a name search.

Without the A-Number, you’ll need three things: the person’s full legal name exactly as it was recorded at intake, their date of birth, and their country of birth. The system requires an exact match, so a missing hyphen, a middle name recorded as part of the surname, or a variant spelling will make the record invisible.² Get this squared away before you start searching so you aren’t guessing at the form.

Running the Search

The locator gives you two search paths. The A-Number search asks for the number plus country of birth. If the number has fewer than nine digits, pad the front with zeros to make it nine — an eight-digit A12345678 becomes A012345678.³ The biographical search asks for first name, last name, date of birth, and country of birth from a dropdown.²

A hit returns the person’s current facility and custody status. Records for people who have been released stay in the system for roughly 60 days after they leave, so there is a limited window to confirm a recent release through the locator.

When the Locator Shows Nothing

A blank result is common in the first hours or days after an arrest. The locator only displays people held by CBP for more than 48 hours or already transferred to ICE.² CBP generally aims to transfer or process people out within 72 hours, and the online system will not have a record during that gap.⁴

Anyone under 18 will not appear. Unaccompanied minors are transferred to the Office of Refugee Resettlement at the Department of Health and Human Services, and HHS will not release information that could identify or locate a child.⁵ Families searching for a minor need to contact ORR directly.

People who have filed for T visas (trafficking victims), U visas (crime victims), or relief under the Violence Against Women Act are also excluded. Federal law prohibits disclosure of information about these applicants, so their records will not appear in the locator even when they are in custody.⁶

Data-entry mismatches account for many other misses. Try alternate spellings, swap first and last name order, and check whether a middle name may have been recorded as part of the last name.

Calling ICE and Other Backup Routes

The Detention Reporting and Information Line at 1-888-351-4024 is the next step when the website fails. Enforcement and Removal Operations staff who answer the line can search internal systems that are more current than the public locator.² Have the same identifying information ready that the website requires.

You can also contact the ERO field office closest to where the arrest happened or where you believe the person is being held. ICE publishes a list of field offices on its website, though these are not walk-in locations for general inquiries.⁷

ICE generally will not share case-specific or medical information with a third party unless the detainee has signed ICE Form 60-001, a privacy waiver valid for 90 days that specifies which categories of information may be released.⁸

For foreign nationals, the person’s home-country consulate is another route. Consulates have protocols for tracking their citizens in U.S. detention and can sometimes get information faster than working through ICE. Detainees have the right to contact their consulate at no charge, so the detained person may be able to initiate the connection from inside.⁹

Getting in Touch Once You’ve Found Them

Phone Calls

Facilities must give detainees free calls to consulates, legal service providers on the official pro bono list, the immigration court handling their case, the Board of Immigration Appeals, and government offices providing case documents. Free calls are also supposed to be allowed during a personal or family emergency, and the standard is meant to be read broadly.⁹ Calls to family and friends run through a contracted communications vendor, often Talton but not always.¹⁰ The specific facility page on the ICE website lists the vendor and how to open a prepaid account.

Mail

Each facility publishes a mailing address on its ICE page. Personal letters, photos, and documents can go there, subject to the facility’s rules on what’s allowed. Legal mail must be marked “legal mail” or “special correspondence” on the outside of the envelope to receive privileged handling, and the detained person needs to make sure their attorney knows this.¹¹ Legal mail may be opened in front of the detainee to check for contraband, but staff cannot read it.

Visits and Tablets

Every adult visitor needs valid government-issued photo ID such as a driver’s license or unexpired passport. Without it, you’ll be turned away.¹² Visiting hours, dress codes, and prohibited items differ by facility and can change on short notice, so call ahead. Some sites have moved to video-only visitation. Many facilities also offer tablet-based video visits, messaging, and calls through Talton or another vendor; availability and pricing vary.¹³

Commissary Deposits

Detainees use commissary accounts for personal items, snacks, and extra phone time. Most facilities accept money orders or cashier’s checks mailed to a designated lockbox; some also accept Western Union. Personal checks and cash are typically not accepted. Include the detainee’s full name and facility-assigned ID number on every payment, and budget for transaction fees.

Posting an Immigration Bond

An immigration judge or ICE can set a bond so the person can be released while the case moves forward. The regulatory floor is $1,500, and most bonds run $5,000 to $15,000 or higher.

You can pay the full amount yourself with a certified check, cashier’s check, or money order, in person at an ICE ERO Bond Acceptance Facility, using Form I-352.¹⁴ ICE publishes the list of field offices and detention centers that accept bond payments.¹⁵ If the person attends every hearing and complies with court orders, the full amount is refunded at the end of the case, with interest, though the refund can take months. The person who posted the bond (the obligor) receives a cancellation notice after the case concludes and mails it, with the original receipt, to the DHS Debt Management Center.

The other option is an immigration bond surety company, which posts the full amount for you in exchange for a non-refundable fee, typically 15 to 20 percent. On a $10,000 bond, that’s $1,500 to $2,000 you will not get back regardless of the outcome. The surety company must appear on the Treasury Department’s Circular 570 list of approved sureties.¹⁴ This route costs more overall but works when the full amount isn’t available quickly.

Finding a Lawyer

People in immigration proceedings have no right to a government-appointed attorney. That makes legal help one of the most urgent items after location. The Executive Office for Immigration Review publishes a quarterly list of pro bono legal service providers organized by immigration court; every organization on the list has committed to at least 50 hours per year of free representation for people in proceedings there.¹⁶ Facilities are required to give detainees free phone access to the organizations on this list, so the detained person can call from inside.

The Legal Orientation Program, which used to provide group presentations and one-on-one guidance at dozens of facilities, was terminated by the Department of Justice in April 2025 and has not been reinstated. Even a single paid consultation with an immigration lawyer can help clarify whether the detained person has a viable claim for relief and what to expect at the next hearing.

1
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. A-Number/Alien Registration Number/Alien Number
2
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Online Detainee Locator System
3
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Tips on Finding Your A-Number and DOS Case ID
4
U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Searching for Someone in CBP Custody
5
Office of Refugee Resettlement. Unaccompanied Alien Children Released to Sponsors by State
6
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. United States Code Title 8 Section 1367 – Penalties for Disclosure of Information
7
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. ICE Field Offices
8
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Privacy Waiver Authorizing Disclosure to a Third Party
9
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Telephone Access – Detention Standard
10
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. ICE Communication Services
11
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Correspondence and Other Mail – Detention Standard
12
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. ICE/DRO Detention Standard – Visitation
13
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Tablets at ICE Facilities
14
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Immigration Bond – Form I-352
15
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. ICE ERO Bond Acceptance Facilities
16
Executive Office for Immigration Review. List of Pro Bono Legal Service Providers