ICE Has More Than Tripled Detainees Transferred Five or More Times. Attorneys Say Clients Are Vanishing in the System.

The Numbers

From the final year of the Biden administration to the first year of Trump's second term, the number of immigration detainees transferred five or more times more than tripled, according to a June 2026 investigation by The Marshall Project. The number moved out of state within 24 hours more than doubled.

As of May 2026, more than 28,000 people were held in immigration detention while facing deportation proceedings. According to Reason, nearly half of them have no legal representation.

What "Disappeared" Actually Means

Attorney James Jones filed a motion to reopen an immigration case on behalf of a client. What followed was months of chasing her through the system. ICE told him she was in Texas. Then Louisiana. Then somewhere else. By the time the court granted the motion to reopen, she had already been removed from the country and Jones couldn't locate her to attend the hearing.

"They ran the clock out and ran me around the country until they literally removed my client from the United States," Jones told FOX Carolina.

A federal court had granted relief. It didn't matter, because no one could find the person the relief was granted for.

The Marshall Project reported that other attorneys described clients effectively disappearing for days during transfer windows, with little time to communicate, file paperwork, or prepare any legal response before another move occurred.

What the Government Is Actually Responsible For

Transfers are a routine part of running a detention network. ICE manages nearly 1,500 facilities and detention locations across the country, and it has for roughly 17 years. Bed space, logistics, medical needs, and security all require flexibility. No one is arguing ICE should freeze every detainee in place.

The argument, made clearly by Reason, is that the larger and more dispersed the network becomes, the more critical accurate tracking becomes. Right now, according to attorneys who spoke with The Marshall Project, the locator systems are not keeping pace with the transfers. Detainees move faster than records update. Lawyers call facilities and get wrong information. Families call and get nothing.

The Strongest Case for ICE's Discretion

The fairest version of the government's position deserves a direct statement: ICE is managing a system under enormous operational pressure, with detention populations at scale and a legal mandate to execute removal orders. Rapid transfers can serve legitimate purposes—separating problematic detainees, relieving overcrowded facilities, responding to court orders in other jurisdictions. A detainee who is legally ordered removed and has exhausted appeals is not, under the law, waiting for a second bite at the apple.

If attorneys file motions to reopen cases late in the process, the government has an interest in not having those filings indefinitely delay final orders. And ICE would likely argue that its online locator tool is available to attorneys and families as a resource.

That case has some merit on paper. The problem is the facts don't support it in practice. When a court grants a motion and the government can't produce the person, the system has failed on its own terms, not just on civil liberties grounds.

What No One Is Asking For

Nobody in the source material is demanding open borders or the end of detention. Reason, which runs center-right on most issues, laid out a simple baseline: ICE should notify attorneys of record when transfers occur. Detainee locator systems should be updated promptly. Detainees should have reliable access to phones so they can reach family and counsel.

These are not radical asks. They are standard operating requirements for any detention system that expects to function within a legal framework.

Reason also called on Congress to require more transparency about transfer practices and outcomes, so that courts, policymakers, and the public can evaluate how well the safeguards are working.

A Note on the NPR Source

NPR was listed as a source for this story. The NPR content provided contained ZERO reporting on ICE detention or detainee transfers. It was a collection of unrelated stories about Amelia Earhart, Jimmy Hoffa, and Waldo on a rooftop. It contributed nothing to this article and is listed here only to note the discrepancy.

The Open Question

The Marshall Project investigation documented a system where the volume of transfers has surged faster than the accountability infrastructure can track. The unresolved question is whether that gap is the result of underfunded record-keeping, deliberate operational opacity, or simply the chaos of scaling a detention system this fast. The answer matters, because the fix is different depending on which one it is.