Some people who've been detained by ICE have since gone missing.

Question

There has been scattered news coverage regarding people who've entered the "ICE" database and have since gone missing. The National Immigration Law Center released a statement, "In March and April 2025, the U.S. government sent more than 280 young men to a foreign jail notorious for torture, in secret, with no notice to their loved ones or attorneys. There, they were held incommunicado and tortured." Currently, this organization is dedicated to tracking individuals who have been missing since being sent to CECOT and demanding justice for the men who survived their time in the prison. This may be a slightly biased source, but they have been able to conduct interviews with victims, which further supports their claims. These men's stories can be found on their website. 

Most sources found on the topic are extremely left-leaning, which may present some biases, but Homeland Security has published no statement on the concern, whereas they've been known to respond to articles reporting on ICE injustice in the past, such as their statement published, June 30th, 2025, titled, "DHS Debunks Fake News Media Narratives from June." Their silence on the matter could raise concern for some or devalue victims' previous claims as fact for others. More investigation needs to be done on this to be able to properly distinguish between facts and biases. 

Answer 1

The claim that some people who’ve been detained by ICE have since gone missing is largely true, but with some caveats.

The term “missing” does not necessarily mean that ICE or Salvadoran officials lost track of detainees entirely; rather, it reflects a lack of transparency. Families and attorneys were often unable to locate detainees through public databases or obtain information from authorities, which created the appearance of enforced disappearance.

According to a Human Rights Watch report published on April 11, 2025,

“On March 15, 2025, the US government removed 238 Venezuelans to El Salvador, where they were immediately transferred to the mega-prison known as the Center for Confinement of Terrorism (Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo, CECOT) … United States and Salvadoran authorities have not disclosed a list of the people removed, although CBS News published a leaked list of names. Relatives of people apparently transferred to El Salvador told Human Rights Watch that US authorities said they were unable to share any information on their relatives’ whereabouts, while Salvadoran officials have been completely unresponsive.”

While Human Rights Watch has faced criticism for biased reporting regarding the Middle East, its documentation of immigrant detainees in U.S. custody is widely regarded as credible and evidence-based.

On September 18, El Pais reported that “Hundreds of people detained at the Alligator Alcatraz immigration processing center west of Miami, Florida, appear to have vanished. They have disappeared from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) online database, and their lawyers and families have been unable to locate them, according to immigrant advocacy groups.”

El Pais is largely viewed as reputable. Although some sites have described a left-leaning bias, El Pais is known for its credibility in factual reporting.

Answer 2

After searching for information to verify the accuracy of this claim, I have found this claim to be true. 

In the following article I found, there are claims of illegal detainments of Americans, with those detained unable to communicate with their families outside of these detention centers, and several testimonies of disappearing in the system for days or forever (Foy & Maney, Immigration agents have held more than 170 Americans against their will, Propublica finds 2025). 

In the article you provided, it includes the transcript of a news segment of a conversation topic of those who have disappeared from the system. It led me to recheck their sources in which I found that the Miami Herald had done significant investigating into the missing detainees. The Miami Herald found that the locations "of two-thirds of more than 1,800 men detained at Alligator Alcatraz" could not be determined in July. Furthermore, the Miami Herald found that "800 detainees showed no record on ICE’s online database. More than 450 listed no location and only instructed the user to “Call ICE for details”. 

In a separate but related article, there are those detained who are being wrongfully deported to countries that they are not originally from (Hundreds of Alligator Alcatraz detainees drop off the grid after leaving site, 2025). Also, there are American citizens being detained in raids and centers against their will. Forced to endure and witness the conditions of the detention centers and the oppression those detained are victim to (Foy & Maney, Immigration agents have held more than 170 Americans against their will, Propublica finds 2025) .

So through the mass deportations of not just those illegally residing in the country but of citizens too, there are prevalent inconsistencies in record keeping and the locations of where people are being kept meaning that they are in fact missing.

Read more at: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/immigration/article312042943.html#storylink=cpy

Answer 3

The claim that some people being detained by ICE have since gone missing is true. In this case, missing means that people are being detained without family members or attorneys knowing. According to the National Immigration Law Center in March and April of 2025 the U.S government transferred more than 280 young men who were mostly Venezuelans to El Salvador's CECOT mega prison which is known for its harsh conditions and alleged torture. It was reported by NILC that these men were taken in secret without notice to their families or attorneys. This is also backed up by investigative reports from major sources like The Washington Post and El Pais, which describe severe mistreatment and confirm that relatives have been unable to locate the detainees. NILC has since launched a project called “Tracking the CECOT Disappearances,” documenting victims’ stories and monitoring those still missing. The evidence that backs up this claim makes it true.  

Sources:

https://www.nilc.org/resources/tracking-the-cecot-disappearances/

https://www.nilc.org/resources/tracking-the-cecot-disappearances/#read-their-stories

https://english.elpais.com/usa/2025-09-18/the-mysterious-disappearance-of-hundreds-of-immigrants-detained-at-alligator-alcatraz.html

https://www.hrw.org/news/2025/04/11/us/el-salvador-venezuelan-deportees-forcibly-disappeared

Answer 4

This claim is accurate but could potentially be seen as misleading. The statement uses the term "missing" without clarifying what that actually means. Individuals in ICE custody have repeatedly become untraceable by families or attorneys due to inadequate registration, failure to report a transfer, or being omitted from public tracking systems. The proper terminology for this would be enforced disappearance. So yes, people detained by ICE have, in many cases lost visibility to their families or legal team, but the lack of context renders this claim slightly misleading. Without clarifying the circumstances or definitions, the claim exaggerates the nature of their disappearance. The ICE locator is the main tool provided to track their loved ones, but it is often not updated or even functional. This is happening all while the detainee is denied access to legal counsel, human rights, and essential contact with family members. This leads the family to a dead end, often wondering if they are even alive. This is traumatizing for every party involved. Being left with no answers is the key reason families report individuals missing.