Last week, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officially
launched its Online Detainee Locator System (ODLS). This new online
system lets people search for detainees currently being held by ICE.
ODLS can be used to track detainees currently in ICE custody or
recently released from custody (within the past 60 days). Family
members can use the online system to search via a detainee’s Alien
Registration Number and country of birth, or biographical information
and country of birth.
There has recently been an increase in
both the amount of detainees taken into custody by ICE and the rate of
transfers of detainees. According to the Transactional Records Access
Clearinghouse, in Fiscal Year 1999, just under 20% of detainees were
transferred from one facility to another. In the first half of Fiscal
Year 2008, however, over 50% of detainees were transferred to another
location.
ODLS is available online at: https://locator.ice.gov/odls/homePage.do.
