This story originally appeared in Prism on March 12, 2026.
A national immigrant advocacy group is launching an interactive map designed to help families locate detained loved ones, find legal and community resources, and better understand the expanding U.S. immigration detention system. The map, created by Freedom for Immigrants, launched March 12 and compiles information about immigration detention facilities, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) field offices, resource providers, and companies that profit from immigration detention. Advocates say the project aims to make information about immigration detention— which is often difficult to access—available in one place for people most directly impacted by the system.
“Detention operates through speed, confusion, [and] isolation, and so the role of this map is to try to interrupt that by centralizing the information that people will need,” said Gillian Wenhold, database and IT manager at Freedom for Immigrants, who led development of the new platform.
The map builds on an earlier version developed during the COVID-19 pandemic to monitor coronavirus outbreaks inside detention facilities. Over the past year, the organization rebuilt the project on a new platform and expanded its scope.
The updated map includes five main sections: an immigration detention directory, a resource hub, an organizing and resistance section highlighting companies tied to detention, a news and storytelling feed linked to individual facilities, and a “detention by the numbers” data section that tracks statistics such as deaths in custody.
Users can click on detention centers across the country to see information, including visitation policies, phone access rules, and how to add money to commissary accounts. A resource directory allows people to filter organizations by the type of support offered, including legal services and rapid response networks, and by communities served.
The project is primarily intended for families, friends, and loved ones trying to navigate the detention system, Wenhold said.
“Since we have our hotline, we’re constantly talking to people who are detained,” Wenhold said. “We’re talking to family and loved ones. And so the things that people we’re supporting need, we’re trying to put them on the map.”
The platform also allows members of the public to submit updates, which advocates hope will help keep the information current.
Mapping a rapidly changing detention system
Maintaining accurate data about detention facilities presents a challenge, Wenhold said, because the system is constantly changing. ICE relies on a network of facilities that includes privately operated detention centers, local jails, and federal facilities used temporarily to hold immigrants. New locations can open or close quickly, while others are used intermittently.
“Another challenge when it comes to resources is finding resource providers in resource-sparse areas,” Wenhold said. “Across the board we’re seeing the increase in detention and the really heavy strain on resource providers. So even finding resource providers that aren’t maxed out or at capacity has also been challenging, both for a hotline and for populating the map.”
To compile the map’s information, the organization combines multiple sources, including government records, Freedom for Immigrants’ internal hotline database, media reports, and federal spending disclosures. Some data has also been obtained through public records requests.
A newsfeed built into the map automatically gathers stories about individual detention centers, with staff reviewing and approving articles before they appear. Some advocates and organizers say the tool could also help people understand how widespread detention has become.
Josefina Mora-Cheung, director of organizing with the immigrant rights group La Resistencia in Washington state, said the map appeared to be “really comprehensive,” particularly because it distinguishes between full detention facilities and ICE field offices.
“We’ve seen in places like Portland, where people are held for at most like 24 to 48 hours, [places] are oftentimes called a detention facility, and they’re actually not a detention facility,” Mora-Cheung said. “It’s just an office. So I do appreciate that distinction.”
For organizers who support people detained far from their communities, she said a centralized map could also help connect families with local support groups or legal aid organizations.
Tool for organizing and advocacy
The project will also link to a companion map developed by AJ Kim, an associate professor of city planning at San Diego State University, which focuses on real-time detention population statistics and facility capacity. Over the coming months, the two tools will be merged into a single platform, according to Freedom for Immigrants.
The Freedom for Immigrants map also tracks government contracts and companies involved in immigration detention, information advocates say can help support organizing campaigns aimed at shutting down facilities or ending corporate involvement.
“Ideally, this map will be used widely, and also people will kind of feel ownership over the map,” Wenhold said. “They will be using it, adding their updates, so that it’s kind of like how Wikipedia is updated by the general population, verified by everyone.”
Advocates also plan to expand a section of the map highlighting organizing campaigns, protests, and resistance efforts tied to detention facilities. Wenhold said Freedom for Immigrants often hears from people inside detention who are organizing hunger strikes or other forms of protest and want their stories shared publicly.
“There are a lot of people who stumble across the map, like the general public who are looking for ways to get involved and may not know about information or may not know about campaigns in their area,” Wenhol said. “So having ways for them to take action or get plugged in is really important to take that next step past your research or your scrolling and get involved in the movement.”
Mora-Cheung said she hopes the map will help the public better understand the human impact of detention.
“At this point, it’s not necessarily about immigration anymore, it’s about the disappearance of a whole community and a whole group of people just because they’re from somewhere else,” Mora-Cheung said. “It really ties down to xenophobia. We can’t allow for this expansion of detention sites any longer. Detention is not necessary. It’s used in a very arbitrary way and has very detrimental consequences, not only to people and their families, but to the communities that the detention facilities are in as well.”
Wenhold described the project as part of a broader effort to build what advocates call “abolitionist infrastructure,” or tools that help people navigate and challenge the detention system while supporting those currently held inside.
“This new evolution of the map is supporting, survival of people, families, loved ones,” Wenhold said. “Ultimately, [it is] making it easier for people to get what they need, so that they can spend their time doing the really important work of organizing for systemic change.”
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