As if the details (or lack thereof) of ICE disappearing people into its concentration camps weren’t terrifying enough, on Monday, AP News revealed that the agency has quietly started obscuring the names and locations of detainees who have a final order of removal. If you’re a personal fan of due process, American democracy, or basic human rights… the klaxons should be deafening.
The change was flagged by several lawyers over the weekend, with at least three current and former ICE officials explaining to the outlet that the move was deliberate. What’s more is Wilber Rafael Garcés Perez—a 28-year-old DoorDash driver from Austin, Texas, who was shot and detained on Sunday afternoon by ICE goons while delivering an order—was also untrackable after he was detained, and the Department of Homeland Security claimed he had a final order of removal. Afterward, Perez’s attorney posted on social media that she and others were unable to identify Perez’s location. It was not until later Monday that she confirmed he was found to be detained in a processing center in Pearsall, Texas.
Distressing update from Wilber’s lawyer via IG a short while ago:
— Marisa Kabas (@marisakabas.bsky.social) September 21, 2026 at 6:46 AM
Per AP, ICE started vanishing the detainees with final orders of removal from its online database last Tuesday, a move that’ll make it much more difficult to challenge their deportations and/or stop them from happening. About a third of the 16,000 individuals detained in July alone have final orders of removal.
Once a final order of deportation is issued, ICE has about 90 days to remove the individual from the country. In less authoritarian times, they could attempt to reopen a case by filing a habeas petition or ask a judge to release them on constitutional grounds. But the new changes will make it much harder for any such legal avenue to be an option.
This will make it nearly impossible to file habeas petitions, because attorneys won’t even know what federal district their client has been moved to to stage for their removal.
Something like a third of all people in ICE custody.
apnews.com/article/ice-…
— Gillian Brockell (@gillianbrockell.com) September 21, 2026 at 6:06 PM
“To me, it’s just another iteration of disappearing people,” Michelle Mendez, a legal director at the National Immigration Project, told AP News. “Why would we do that in the United States of America? It’s something we’d hear about in another country and be concerned about individual rights and due process.”
