ICE Detention in Missouri: How to Find and Support a Detained Loved One

If someone you love has been detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, known as ICE, in Missouri, it helps to know that Missouri has no dedicated immigration detention center. Instead, ICE holds people in county jails around the state. Missouri has also become a holding state for the wider Midwest: because some nearby states limit immigration detention, ICE sends people arrested in places like Chicago, St. Louis, and Kansas City to Missouri county jails. So your person may be held in a Missouri jail even if they were arrested somewhere else in the region. The two most urgent things you can do are find exactly where they are being held, and get an immigration attorney involved right away.

It helps to understand the nature of this. ICE detention is civil, not criminal. A person is not being held as punishment for a crime; they are being held to secure their presence for immigration proceedings or removal. And unlike criminal court, immigration court does not provide a free, government appointed lawyer, which is why finding legal help early is so important.

One number matters more than anything else through all of this: the Alien Registration Number, called the A-Number. It is a nine digit number assigned to the case, found on immigration paperwork, a work permit, or court notices. Write it down and keep it close, because it follows your person from jail to jail, and it is the key to locating them, posting any bond, and working with a lawyer.

How to find someone in ICE custody

ICE runs a free public tool called the Online Detainee Locator System, at locator.ice.gov. You can search by the A-Number, which is the most reliable way, or by the person's full name plus their country of birth and date of birth.

A few things make the difference between finding your person and coming up empty. The locator only matches names spelled exactly the way the government entered them, so if you get no result, try different spellings, swap the order of first and last names, and try with and without a middle name. Children under 18 do not appear in the system at all. And there can be a lag of a day or more before a newly detained person shows up.

Because people are moved between jails and in from other states, check the locator again every few days. If you cannot find your person, call the ICE detention reporting line at 1-888-351-4024. Missouri falls under the ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Chicago field office, and its cases are handled through the Kansas City detained unit, which jails refer families and attorneys to for case information.

Where ICE holds people in Missouri

Missouri does not have a dedicated immigration detention center. Instead, ICE holds people in county jails under agreements known as intergovernmental service agreements. At least four county jails in the state hold immigration detainees.

The main one has been the Phelps County Jail in Rolla, about 100 miles southwest of St. Louis, which expanded its capacity in 2025 and has held dozens of immigration detainees at a time. ICE also uses the Ste. Genevieve County Jail in southeastern Missouri, which holds people from across the state and from southern Illinois, and the Greene County Jail in Springfield. People are sometimes moved between these jails, brought in from elsewhere in the Midwest, or transferred out of the state, so always rely on the live locator to confirm where your person actually is. These jails are often in small towns, far from the cities where most immigration attorneys work.

How someone ends up in ICE custody in Missouri

Missouri has moved strongly toward cooperation with ICE. A large and growing number of law enforcement agencies in the state, more than sixty as of early 2026, have signed 287(g) agreements, which let local officers carry out certain immigration functions. A state law also directs local agencies to check for outstanding warrants and to coordinate with federal authorities, and in 2025 the state provided National Guard support for federal immigration operations.

What this means in practice is that contact with local law enforcement, including a traffic stop or a local arrest, can lead to immigration custody. When a person is booked into a county jail, ICE can place a detainer, also called an ICE hold, which is a request to keep the person for up to 48 hours beyond their normal release so ICE can take custody. If your person was first arrested locally, ask the attorney exactly how they came into ICE custody, because the circumstances can matter to the case.

How the process and your person's rights work

Immigration cases are handled in immigration court, run by a separate agency called the Executive Office for Immigration Review, not by ICE. For people held in Missouri jails, hearings are often conducted by video from the jail. You can check case status through the court's automated system using the A-Number.

Here is what families most need to know about rights. A detained person has the right to be represented by a lawyer, but at their own expense, because the government does not provide one in immigration proceedings. They have the right to a list of free or low cost legal service providers. They generally have the right to a hearing before an immigration judge, and in many cases the right to ask that judge for release on bond. Some people are eligible for bond, which a judge can set and which can then be paid for release while the case continues; others fall under mandatory detention and are not eligible. One more thing worth knowing: a detained person should not sign documents giving up their rights, such as a voluntary departure form, without talking to a lawyer first.

How families can help from the outside

Find a lawyer first. Because Missouri's jails are spread across the state and often far from cities, and because legal access at some jails has been limited, getting an attorney involved early matters. There are also local volunteer and legal aid groups that help detainees stay in touch and navigate the process. Have the A-Number ready when you call.

Put money on their account and learn each jail's system. The deposit, phone, and visitation rules differ from one county jail to the next. Many allow only non contact social visits and have specific mailing rules, such as addressing mail to the detainee by name with a pod or housing number. Call the specific jail to confirm how its system works, and start over if your person is moved.

Track any transfer. Keep checking the locator so you always know which jail your person is in, since money, phone, mail, and visitation all depend on where they are at that moment.

Keep the paperwork organized. Hold onto every document with the A-Number, every court notice, and every receipt, and share copies with the attorney.

Staying connected matters more than anything

Through all of the logistics, do not underestimate the simple power of staying in touch. Being held in a rural county jail, sometimes far from home or in a state where your person knows no one, can be deeply isolating, and steady contact from home is one of the few things that genuinely helps a person hold on.

Letters and photos are the backbone of that connection. They are something your person can keep, read again on a hard night, and hold as proof that home has not let go, and they can follow your person from one jail to the next. InmateAid can help you send physical mail and photos to your loved one, printed and delivered the right way so it reaches them inside. Use it to send pictures of family, words of encouragement, or simply a reminder that someone is fighting for them on the outside. That steady contact, alongside a good lawyer, is the most practical support you can give while the case moves forward.