f{"id":50481,"date":"2026-09-22T12:34:51","date_gmt":"2026-09-22T19:34:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=50481"},"modified":"2026-09-22T12:35:45","modified_gmt":"2026-09-22T19:35:45","slug":"ice-denounced-for-enacting-official-government-policy-of-disappearing-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2026\/09\/22\/ice-denounced-for-enacting-official-government-policy-of-disappearing-people\/","title":{"rendered":"ICE Denounced for Enacting \u2018Official Government Policy of Disappearing People\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\"Immigration<\/picture><\/div>\n
\n
\n

Detainees stand by a window inside the federal immigration center at Delaney Hall in Newark, New Jersey, where US Immigration and Customs Enforcement is housing detained immigrants on May 26, 2026.\u00a0 (Photo by Adam Gray\/Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\u201cHiding prisoners from the courts is unconstitutional,\u201d said one expert.<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Brad Reed<\/a><\/p>\n

Sep 21, 2026 (CommnDreams.org)<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n

Critics reacted with horror to a Monday report<\/a> from The Associated Press detailing how US Immigration<\/a> and Customs Enforcement has abruptly ended its practice of disclosing the locations of thousands of detainees.<\/p>\n

According to the AP, ICE \u201chas stopped publicly revealing where it is holding… detainees who are subject to final deportation orders, an unannounced move that has made it far more difficult for lawyers and relatives to find them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\n
RECOMMENDED…<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\"Protest<\/a><\/div>\n
\n

\u2018This Violence Cannot Continue\u2019: ICE Shooting of Man in Austin Sparks Outrage<\/a><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\"US<\/a><\/div>\n
\n

\u2018I\u2019m Heading to Danbury,\u2019 Says US Senator as ICE Arrests Parents at School Bus Stops<\/a><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Immigration attorneys who spoke with the AP said that their clients had \u201cvanished\u201d from the system after ICE removed them from its online detainee locator system last week.<\/p>\n

Greg Chen, senior director of government relations at the American Immigration Lawyers Association, told the AP that families of detainees \u201care freaking out because they think the person has been deported and they don\u2019t know where the person might be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chen added that the new policy has \u201cserious implications\u201d for attorneys\u2019 ability to make contact with their clients.<\/p>\n

Michelle Mendez, legal director at the National Immigration Project, told the AP that the new policy is \u201cjust another iteration of disappearing people.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy would we do that in the United States<\/a> of America?\u201d Mendez asked. \u201cIt\u2019s something we\u2019d hear about in another country and be concerned about individual rights and due process.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tom Jawetz, senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, echoed Mendez\u2019s analysis, writing<\/a> in a social media<\/a> post that the AP report reveals \u201can official government policy of disappearing people,\u201d as \u201csystems for attorneys and loved ones to know where\u2014even whether\u2014a person with a final removal order is in ICE custody have been wiped clean.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, described<\/a> the new ICE policy as \u201cunprecedented\u201d for US immigration enforcement.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople who have been detained for months are suddenly disappearing from the locator system\u2014even if they haven\u2019t been moved anywhere,\u201d Reichlin-Melnick explained. \u201cAnd people newly arrested are not showing up at all, their location now hidden from view.\u201d<\/p>\n

Georgetown University political scientist Jonathan Ladd argued<\/a> that the ICE policy was a fundamental violation of long-established rights in the US that date to before the country\u2019s official founding.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe government moving or hiding jailed people to avoid review by courts isn\u2019t some loophole in our habeas corpus rights,\u201d Ladd explained. \u201cThis government behavior has been considered a violation of the people\u2019s habeas corpus rights since at least the Habeas Corpus Act of 1679.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ladd further pointed out that \u201chabeas corpus rights are guaranteed by Article I of our Constitution,\u201d which means \u201chiding prisoners from the courts is unconstitutional.\u201d<\/p>\n

Journalist Gillian Brockell observed<\/a> that the new ICE policy \u201cwill make it nearly impossible to file habeas petitions, because attorneys won\u2019t even know what federal district their client has been moved to to stage for their removal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Among those sharing the AP report on social media was Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, an attorney for Wilbur Rafael Garces Perez, a 28-year-old Venezuelan shot by ICE in Austin, Texas<\/a> on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Initially, she and the immigrant\u2019s wife could not make contact with him, because ICE moved him from the hospital \u201cto an undisclosed location,\u201d but Lincoln-Goldfinch said<\/a> Monday afternoon that her client \u201cis being held at Pearsall for interrogation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe got Wilber on the phone live from detention at the press conference,\u201d the attorney added<\/a>. \u201cHe says he still has the bullet lodged in his shoulder. He says he is not doing well and has not received the medical care he needs.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n

An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder<\/a><\/h2>\n
\n
\n\n\n\n
Dear Common Dreams reader,It\u2019s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits.<\/p>\n

It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do.<\/p>\n

Many people said we wouldn’t last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong.<\/p>\n

Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good.<\/p>\n

Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces\u2014Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor\u2014the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work.<\/p>\n

But here\u2019s the urgent message from me today. It’s never been this bad out there. And it’s never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever.<\/strong><\/p>\n

We don’t accept corporate advertising and never will. We don’t have a paywall because we don’t think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you.<\/p>\n

When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we.
\n
\n<\/strong>Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2014Craig Brown, Co-founder<\/td>\n

\n
\n