Seven people released from immigration detention are suing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The plaintiffs say the agency has routinely failed to return passports, work permits, identification documents, and personal belongings after detainees leave custody, sometimes leaving them unable to work, drive, or support their families. The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in federal court in Washington, accuses ICE of maintaining a nationwide "de facto policy" of withholding property even when the government no longer has a legitimate reason to keep it.
The plaintiffs say the practice has left people unable to work or drive, facing high financial costs and, in some cases, afraid to leave their homes without identification. The seven plaintiffs are asking the court to certify a nationwide class, order ICE to return property it has withheld and require the agency to adopt safeguards governing belongings seized from people in civil immigration detention. They say the practice violates the Fourth Amendment and federal administrative law, as well as ICE's own directives governing detainee property.
The Trump administration's sweeping mass deportation crackdown has dramatically expanded immigration arrests and detention across the United States. ICE detained more than 610,000 people since Trump returned to office as of August. About 80 percent were arrested from the U.S. interior, according to an analysis by The Marshall Project based on Deportation Data Project data.
Newsweek has contacted the Department of Homeland Security as well as ICE for comment and is awaiting their responses. The lawsuit says the seven named plaintiffs were released without property including passports, Social Security cards, employment authorization documents, driver's licenses, cellphones, car keys, cash, clothing and, in one case, a wedding ring. Each had been out of ICE custody for at least five months while still missing property when the complaint was filed, according to the lawsuit.
One plaintiff, Vladimir Izmailov, a Ukrainian-born Russian citizen seeking asylum, was detained by ICE in November 2025 and released in April, according to the complaint. ICE returned his cellphone but not his driver's license, employment authorization document, wallet, belt, or wedding ring, the lawsuit says. The complaint says that Izmailov sought the return of his belongings and was initially told that his documents would be mailed to an ICE officer.
His Intensive Supervision Appearance Program officer later told him that ICE had responded that the property had likely been destroyed, according to the lawsuit. "ICE refusing to return my belongings has made a horrible experience even worse," Izmailov said in a statement shared with Newsweek. "ICE detained me in terrible conditions, without proper nutrition and medical care for months.
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