In a criminal arrest, the legal system creates an immediate paper trail: police reports, court logs, and attorney filings. But inside immigration detention, the process works under an entirely different set of rules.
In this episode of “Inside Story,” host Lawrence Bartley and reporter Aala Abdullahi explore how rapid transfers across the country leave families unable to locate their loved ones. More than 1 in 10 detainees are moved out of state within their first 24 hours in custody, while the government's online locator system frequently lags or shows no assigned facility. Because deportation is a civil administrative process rather than a criminal one, individuals face repeated transfers without the right to appointed counsel or stable court jurisdiction.
Drawing on federal transfer data and accounts from families and attorneys, they examine how the rapid expansion of detention isolates individuals across the country — and how federal courts are beginning to push back.
“Inside Story” is a video series designed to reach audiences both inside and outside of prison walls, establishing facts, exposing failures, and examining solutions for a criminal justice system in crisis.