ICE Detention in Tennessee: 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 Tennessee, it helps to know how detention is set up here. People may be held at a dedicated detention center, at a temporary holding site, or in a county jail, but one thing matters above all: many people detained in Tennessee are moved out of state within days, often to Louisiana or Texas. The main dedicated facility in the state is the West Tennessee Detention Facility in Mason, near Memphis, which reopened in 2025 to hold immigration detainees. So your person may be held in Tennessee or moved quickly, and finding their current location is the first task. Getting an immigration attorney involved right away is the second.

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 place to place, even across state lines, 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 detained in Tennessee are often moved out of state quickly, keep checking the locator over the following days, and do not be surprised if your person appears at a facility in Louisiana or Texas. Tennessee falls under the ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations New Orleans field office. If you cannot find your person, call the ICE detention reporting line at 1-888-351-4024.

Where ICE detention happens in Tennessee

Tennessee has one main dedicated immigration detention center, along with temporary holding sites and county jails used for shorter stays.

The dedicated facility is the West Tennessee Detention Facility in Mason, in Tipton County, about 40 miles northeast of Memphis. It is run by a private company, CoreCivic, in a former prison that reopened in 2025 to hold immigration detainees, with capacity for several hundred people.

For shorter stays, ICE has used a holding site in the Nashville area and county jails, including the Putnam County Jail in Cookeville and the Knox County Jail in Knoxville. In practice, many people detained in Tennessee spend only a short time in the state before being transferred out, frequently to detention centers in Louisiana or Texas. Tennessee is part of ICE's New Orleans region, which serves as a major hub for deportation logistics. Because of all this movement, always rely on the live locator to confirm where your person actually is.

How someone ends up in ICE custody in Tennessee

People come into ICE custody in Tennessee in a few ways. State law enforcement, including the highway patrol, has supported ICE enforcement operations, and a person can also come into custody after contact with local law enforcement through a detainer, which is a request to hold someone for up to 48 hours beyond their normal release so ICE can take custody. People are also detained through ICE's own enforcement in the community.

If your person was first arrested or stopped 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. Tennessee's immigration court is in Memphis, and hearings for detained people are often conducted by video from the facility. If your person is moved to another state, the case generally follows them. 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 practical note for Tennessee: because people are often moved to Louisiana, families have sometimes found that a bond was addressed only after their person had already been transferred, so staying in close contact with the attorney about location matters. And 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 early, and keep the likely transfer in mind. Because your person may be moved to Louisiana or Texas, an attorney who can follow the case across state lines, or who works with lawyers in those states, is valuable. Tennessee has immigration attorneys and nonprofit legal organizations that assist detained people and their families. Have the A-Number ready when you call.

Learn the facility's system. The rules for money, phone, mail, and visits are set by the specific facility. At the West Tennessee Detention Facility, for example, legal representatives can arrange video or phone legal calls by email, and detainees can generally send mail at their own expense. Once you have confirmed the current facility on the locator, call it to learn the exact procedures, since they differ from place to place.

Track every transfer. Keep checking the locator so you always know where your person is, because in Tennessee cases the location can change quickly, and money, phone, mail, and visitation all depend on the current facility.

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 moved out of state, to a detention center far from home, deepens the isolation that detention already brings, 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 facility 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.