A coalition of legal service organizations representing immigrants filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday aiming to halt the Trump administration’s recent policy change that conceals the locations of detainees facing final deportation orders. The suit was filed in Boston and contends the policy undermines attorneys’ ability to effectively represent their clients by making it difficult or impossible to determine detainees’ whereabouts.

The policy, implemented abruptly last month, removes thousands of individuals who have final removal orders from the public Online Detainee Locator System used by attorneys, family members, and advocates to track detainees as they move among ICE facilities. The complaint states the change currently affects over 16,000 of nearly 69,000 people in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody.

According to the lawsuit, the policy obstructs detainees’ access to legal representation and violates their rights. Jacquelynne Bowman, executive director of Greater Boston Legal Services, one of the plaintiff organizations, said the modification risks depriving hundreds of thousands of people of legal assistance during critical stages of their cases. “No one should be denied a meaningful opportunity to defend their rights because the government has made it impossible for their lawyer to find them,” Bowman said.

Since 2010, immigration lawyers and family members have relied on ICE’s online system to locate detainees across a sprawling network of detention centers. Final orders of removal mean that a judge has ruled the individual should be deported, and that decision has either been upheld on appeal or not challenged. However, those subject to such orders may still pursue relief options, including reopening cases, seeking asylum or protection in third countries, and challenging detention conditions. Federal courts regularly order bond hearings and release for detainees in certain cases.

The lawsuit alleges that since the policy’s adoption, attorneys have encountered long delays and barriers when trying to contact clients, with ICE’s detention helpline often providing sparse or no information. Lawyers have resorted to relying on a legal call scheduling program, but only a fraction of detention facilities participate, leading to missed hearings, delayed filings, and reduced legal representation, the complaint asserts.

Plaintiffs argue the policy change violates the Administrative Procedure Act by being implemented without public explanation or notice. They also claim it infringes upon the First Amendment rights of lawyers, which protect their ability to advise clients of their rights and to seek prospective clients.

ICE and the Department of Homeland Security have not publicly acknowledged the policy shift but stated they are prioritizing deportations of individuals with final removal orders amid a “historic number of injunctions” that have limited their operations. Officials denied allegations that detainees are being “disappeared,” emphasizing detainees maintain the ability to communicate by phone.

At the time of filing, neither ICE nor DHS had responded to requests for comment regarding the lawsuit.