practice

Everyone is going to die. Acknowledging this — and reminding oneself daily of one’s mortality — is a core tenet of Buddhist teachings. Few places make that reminder more vivid than Hollywood Forever Cemetery, the iconic Los Angeles graveyard where more than 90,000 people are buried.

Inside the Masonic Lodge on the cemetery grounds, beneath chandeliers, dozens of people search for stillness with a meditation class. In an ornate Italian Renaissance-style room, participants sit scattered across couches and cushions, cross-legged with their eyes closed. The room is silent.

Headstones at Hollywood Forever Cemetery.

Nico Cary is one of the meditation group leaders at Hollywood Forever Cemetery.

For meditation teacher Nico Cary, the cemetery is an ideal backdrop for mindfulness and a lesson in impermanence. “It is quite grounding and an extension of some of the practice we do,” Cary says.

Beth Kaiserman, who regularly attends the meditation group, sees the cemetery as a chance to demystify death. “It’s accepting it as part of life. We’re coming out of our lives to come to this meditation. We’re walking by these gravestones that have been here for so long,” she says. Death, in her mind, doesn’t have to be taboo. “It is a big part of the practice to hopefully come to some level of acceptance that it’s just part of the cycle.”

Practicing meditation at Hollywood Forever is a privilege, explains Cary. The cemetery is not simply a place where people come to mourn; it is a place where relatives return to remember, honor and love those who have died.

Hollywood Forever is, quite literally, livelier than most cemeteries. The grounds are home to a colony of roughly 60 abandoned cats that has attracted a group of loyal caretakers, as well as dozens of peafowl roaming freely. The cemetery is also the final resting place of Hollywood legends, including Cecil B. DeMille, Judy Garland and the rock group the Ramones, where fans leave offerings. Since 2002, Cinespia has hosted outdoor screenings of iconic films at the cemetery during the summer, drawing hundreds of people to the grounds. The cemetery also hosts summer concerts.

“It feels pretty special to be somewhere, on land that’s so cared for, and that so many people come to share love, really — to remember their loved ones, to honor their ancestors,” Cary says.

For more than eight years, Insight LA has brought meditation to Hollywood Forever every Monday night, with a revolving list of teachers leading sessions in the Masonic Lodge. The class is donation-based, as is traditional in the Buddhist practice. Often, the teachers will lead a guided walking meditation through the cemetery grounds.

Insight LA, a Buddhist teaching nonprofit that was founded in 2002 by Trudy Goodman, is based in Santa Monica but also has a retreat house in Benedict Canyon for daylong events.

Members of a weekly meditation group at Hollywood Forever Cemetery participate in a guided session inside the Masonic lodge.

“We have yearlong programs. We have residential retreats. We have weekly drop-in meditation classes, and then we have the Hollywood Forever group too,” says Melissa McKay, the executive director at Insight LA.

According to McKay, the benefits of meditation are striking. “Put simply: It decreases stress, bringing calm and clarity, becoming more aware of oneself,” she says. “It decreases the negativity of the mind, self-hatred, the fears, the spiraling judgment — all of that. It increases the positive sides of our mind: our compassion, care, friendliness, clarity.”

A 2026 UC San Diego study confirms that just seven days of meditation can create molecular changes in the brain linked to stress relief, enhanced neuroplasticity and natural pain relief. The study also shows that meditation can positively affect the immune system and metabolism.

James Rokel practices mindfulness while walking alongside tombstones.

Despite the backdrop, meditation is not just about facing death, McKay says — it’s about learning how to live consciously. One participant, Jared Swanson, thinks of the meditation group as a school for emotional awareness.

“There was a moment where I realized I was in a lot of cycles — relational cycles — and wanted change,” says Swanson. He has been integrating the mindful practices into his life. “I think it’s a desire to be more responsible for my life, to be more present and responsible for my actions and choices,” he says.

Meditation nights attendees range from curious first-time visitors to seasoned veterans who have been practicing Buddhism for over two decades. Cary says the practice can benefit people regardless of their experience level.

“The intentional space to be with ourselves is so nourishing,” says Cary. “Then we practice. You add in a practice on top of that and magical things start to happen.”

Cary leads the group in 30 minutes of silence before a lesson. Participants settle into their cushions. He invites them to rock gently back and forth, a movement he calls “grandmother wisdom,” the kind of care one might offer a crying child. He poses a question for reflection: “What are you trusting right now?”

Insight LA has brought meditation to Hollywood Forever Cemetery every Monday night for nearly 10 years; a walking meditation is often involved.

Nicki Katz, who has been attending the meditations for two years, enjoys the practice of sitting in the quiet. Last year, she attended a 10-day silent retreat, only to accidentally break her silence by excitedly greeting a bunny during a picnic. “I come back to the body and the present awareness of allowing my mind to find some sense of gratitude,” says Katz. She explains that silence also helps her become more intentional with her words.

Tonight’s lesson is on truthfulness and embodying loving kindness. Lessons vary from week to week. “Oftentimes, it’s what the teacher is feeling or what’s come up for them in their practice,” says Cary.

For Monday meditation, the teaching group has assigned the 10 paramis (spiritual virtues) of Buddhism, which explore topics like generosity, wisdom and patience. “We’ve been going into that all year, so each month is one of the paramis,” says Cary.

“The intentional space to be with ourselves is so nourishing,” says meditation leader Nico Cary.

To begin the lesson, he reads a letter he wrote to the president at 5 years old, cautioning him of the perils of nuclear war. The letter is met with snaps and giggles, as a 5-year-old Cary warns of imminent death. “Apparently I was a peculiar child with a morbid sensibility, preoccupied with nuclear war,” he says, smiling. “It makes a lot of sense as to why I became a Buddhist.”

Cary begins to speak about the current moment and how he believes truth has become distorted and refracted in the age of social media. “Trauma is a distortion of reality,” he says. He then invites group members to consider love and kindness in their daily practice.

As the session winds down, participants spring to their feet to discuss the evening. The Masonic Lodge bursts into chatter — the silence abandoned. Tonight, the cemetery is alive.

San Marino High first-year football coach Dujuawn “DJ” Jones got smart when he took over the program, searching for the best athletes on campus and getting their friends on the football team to lobby for them to come out.

What’s happened this season is pretty extraordinary. Aided by nearly a dozen baseball players, San Marino’s football team is off to a 6-0 start. The quarterback, Parker Wilson, is the starting catcher for the baseball team. There are also wrestlers, basketball players and track athletes on the team.

The joke is whether the majority of players are talking about the Dodgers or the Rams during practices.

“We try to do some of the teachings more like in baseball terms,” Jones said. “We want our kids to play other sports.”

There are lots of baseball players around the Southland having big seasons playing football, from Capistrano Valley quarterback Talon Spencer to Corona del Mar receiver JJ Haley to Hart running back Matix Frithsmith to La Canada quarterback Joe Bell to Palos Verdes running back Christian Weis.

The only question left to ask regarding San Marino is how many of the football players are visiting the batting cage before practice?

“Right now they’re not missing too much,” Jones said.

If only the baseball players playing the sport 365 days a year knew what fun they are missing out on.

This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.

Bronny James laughed at the comment, because he found it funny to have a reporter tell him he’s tied for the third-longest tenure with the Lakers.

He is entering his third season, tied with Dalton Knecht and right behind Austin Reaves (entering his sixth season) and Jarred Vanderbilt (going on four-plus).

James is a veteran now and is looking to find his role with the Lakers.

“Crazy, right? AR keeps calling me a vet,” James said, chuckling. “I’m like, ‘I guess.’”

James is a naturally reserved person. But as a point guard, he admits his job is to speak up more, to help organize the offense, to make sure some of his nine new teammates understand what Lakers coach JJ Redick expects.

For his first two years with the Lakers, James didn’t say much because his dad, LeBron James, was the leader and powerful voice on the team.

As a 21-year-old, Bronny James leads in his own way, just as Redick wants all his players to do.

“Definitely coming in every day trying to get better and better myself as a point guard,” James said. “Just taking those steps, encouraging my guys, getting them in the right spots and stuff like that. Making sure we’re organized.

“For sure, that’s what a point guard is. You’ve got to be talking to your guys, got to be helping people get to where they need to be. I take pride in that, for sure. If anyone goes out — God forbid anyone goes out — I’ve got to be the guy to step up and be the primary ballhandler, and get my guys in the right spots. So, yeah, I’ve definitely got to lock in on that.”

James played in 42 regular-season games last season, averaging 2.9 points and shooting 40.9% from the field.

Though he didn’t put up big numbers in the playoffs, James was solid in his role, especially on defense. He played in eight postseason games, averaging 1.5 points and shooting 50% from the field.

This current Lakers team has depth and talent throughout the lineup.

James knows it’s going to take a lot of work to find a role on the team.

“Continuing to come in the gym and stay after practice, just working, competing, playing, just trying to make my mark,” James said. “I think just building on defensive instinct, how I was in the playoffs, picking up full court. They’ve been emphasizing that so I’ve been one of the guys that is picking up full court every possession, every time we get a bucket, just picking up full court.

“And then just being a primary ballhandler for my team. We’re playing against Luka [Doncic] and AR today, so me, Q[uentin Grimes], or J[aden] Hardy, guys were on the team, being primary ballhandlers, giving us confidence.”

Being a top-notched defender is what James strives to be for the Lakers.

Every day during these training camp sessions, James gets tested when he has to defend Doncic and Reaves, two of the NBA’s most dynamic guards.

But that can only help James.

“For sure, it’s going to make me better on the defensive end just picking them up full court,” James said. “I’m annoyed by them, they get annoyed with me in practice. Just continuing to do that will make me better for sure.”

James has worked on his jump shot. He looks more defined, a sign that he has worked on his body as well.

“Just continuing to come in and work on it. The jumper, I’ve been in the gym all summer working on fluidity and the speed of my release, stuff like that, moving,” James said. “Tied into that, just running a lot. I’m the same weight, 215 or 220-ish, but still slim so I can move fast. Just getting in the gym every day and continuing to keep a routine.”

The Lakers have had four days of practice, all of them intense, all of them full of energy.

They will play their first preseason games Monday at Sacramento and then Tuesday at Golden State.

That will give James and the rest of his teammates a chance to carve out roles.

“I definitely think it’s still a process. It’s definitely going to take a few games to get everyone situated,” James said. “We’re trying to figure out our own roles and those things, but also just trying to experiment with lineups. I’ve been here for a minute now, so I know kind of what my role is, but definitely for the new guys.”

There are so many ethical dilemmas in high school sports that earning a teaching credential or gaining life experiences from participating in sports won’t always provide a clear path on how to proceed.

And when you bring in rules and regulations set forth by the California Interscholastic Federation, the state’s governing body for high school sports, everyone has an opinion or complaint — especially when there is a perception of inconsistency in how punishment for a rule violation is assessed.

It really comes down to how coaches hold themselves accountable and what a principal believes in supporting. For example, some principals have dismissed coaches for using profanity. Others do nothing.

Here are some of the ethical questions administrators, coaches, parents and players now face:

If cheating is wrong, how come so many cheat?

Should a player who transfers and has superior talent immediately get to start over a player who has been in the program for three years busting his butt?

How do you figure out when it’s OK to share playing time at quarterback if you have two good players or even three?

When is it OK for a parent to ask about their son‘s or daughter’s playing time, if ever?

How important is winning games compared to team grade-point average?

What is the most appropriate punishment for showing up late to practice?

What is a legitimate excuse for missing practice?

When should a coach allow players to wear whatever shoes they want compared to having one universal shoe and color?

Why are coaches allowed to use profanity but players can’t?

Why can’t coaches welcome multi-sport athletes instead of seething when they have to miss an offseason game?

Should benching a player for receiving a technical foul be automatic?

Should a player be immediately removed for committing a personal foul in football?

How much consideration should be given to the parent with money versus the parent with no money?

How much acting is required to pull off a pregame or halftime speech to inspire your players?

How can you teach teamwork and unselfishness for the team but lay low and suddenly go silent when the top player doesn’t follow the example away from the team?

When a parent offers to become an assistant coach, what instructions and guidelines must be imposed to prevent other parents complaining about “daddy ball?”

When is yelling at an official ever appropriate?

When is the margin of victory too large?

Why is it OK to recruit players, then complain when someone else recruits your players?

For years, baseball coaches have broken rules by holding batting practice before playoff games, resulting in teams forfeiting and coaches learning ignorance of a rule is no excuse. That leads to how can a coach receive only a two-game suspension from his district for playing three ineligible players during an out-of-state football game while claiming he didn’t know the ineligible players couldn’t play outside of California when he’s been coaching for more more than 10 years?

Any coach who says “I don’t want to know” where a transfer lives to escape accountability might want to start realizing an entire program can go down when they abdicate responsibility.

Finally, many claim whatever they are doing “is for the kids,” but when is it time for an adult to enter the room and explain the end doesn’t justify the means?

As someone who has seen virtually every kind of behavior, both good and bad, during 50 years of covering high school sports, I can say I don’t have all the answers to many of the questions posed. But when it comes to education-based high school sports. everyone has a responsibility to follow high ethical standards so that maybe a little bit might rub off on their players and help them navigate their future real-life decisions from a position of strength and confidence.

Just last week, Joey Porter Jr. told reporters he “definitely” would play for the Pittsburgh Steelers this season despite a contract standoff and a lingering back issue.

That’s not going to happen. The Steelers have traded the fourth-year cornerback to Dallas for a second-round 2028 draft pick and a sixth-round 2027 pick, the Cowboys announced Thursday morning.

“Here I come…… Dallas,” Porter wrote on a post to his Instagram Stories early Thursday.

The son of a former Steelers great — Joey Porter Sr. won a Super Bowl with the Steelers during his 13 years as an NFL linebacker and spent several years with the team as a defensive coach — Porter was selected by Pittsburgh in the second round of the 2023 draft. He broke up 31 passes over his first three seasons.

Porter missed all of training camp and preseason while on the Steelers’ physically unable to perform list because of the reported back issues. During the same period of time, he and the Steelers were unable to come to terms on a contract extension on the rookie deal that was set to expire after this season. The Steelers do not negotiate contracts once a season has begun.

Since the season started, Porter has been a limited participant in practices but was inactive in all three games. As the Steelers prepared to face the Cleveland Browns on “Thursday Night Football” this week, Porter was listed as a full participant in practice, although the team added a back injury to Porter’s injury status on Wednesday.

Porter is the third Steelers player traded to the Cowboys in the last two years, following receiver George Pickens last year and offensive lineman Broderick Jones just before this season started. First-year Steelers coach Mike McCarthy was the Cowboys coach from 2020 to 2024.

Last year, a contract dispute led Dallas to deal star edge rusher Micah Parsons to the Green Bay Packers just before the start of the regular season.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Accra, Ghana – The Africa Space Expo (ASPEX), which closed in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, last week, was not designed as a showcase for rockets and astronauts. Organisers presented it instead as a marketplace for space applications in food security, climate resilience, territorial monitoring, connectivity and maritime security, bringing start-ups, project labs and investors together to move ideas from demonstration to deployment.

The event also produced several concrete agreements. The Ivory Coast signed the Artemis Accords, becoming the 75th signatory of the agreement on space exploration and development, while Angola signed a letter of intent on space cooperation with the United Arab Emirates.

But beyond the agreements, the expo highlighted a question that is becoming harder to avoid: Can Africa move from using space technology to building more of it itself?

Ghana offers a clear illustration of both the progress and the gap.

Ghana’s ambitions in space and nuclear science date back to its early years of independence. In 1961, President Kwame Nkrumah’s government initiated a nuclear reactor project in Accra. Two years later, the government established the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission through an act of Parliament with a mandate covering the peaceful applications of nuclear energy.

The reactor project was shelved after Nkrumah was overthrown in 1966, but the institution he helped establish remains the parent body of the Ghana Space Science and Technology Institute (GSSTI).

Joseph Tandoh, director of the GSSTI, traces Ghana’s more recent space programme to a partnership with South Africa.

“Ghana became a partner through South Africa,” he told Al Jazeera. “Through that project, we were able to reconstruct the old satellite antenna at Kuntunse into a radio telescope.”

Through its partnership with South Africa on radio astronomy, Ghana converted a redundant 32-metre (105ft) antenna at Kuntunse into a functioning radio telescope. Ghana became the first of South Africa’s eight African Square Kilometre Array partner countries to complete the conversion, and the telescope was launched in August 2017.

Ghana’s National Space Policy was approved by the cabinet in 2022 and launched in 2024. The government approved the establishment of a Ghana Space Agency in 2025, beginning the process of creating a dedicated national institution for the sector.

The institutional framework is taking shape. The harder question is how Ghana moves from using space technology to developing and building more of it itself.

What Ghana is already doing

At the GSSTI, that transition is already under way.

Tandoh told Al Jazeera GEOMAIZE, a partnership between the GSSTI and VITO, the Flemish Institute for Technological Research in Belgium, has demonstrated how satellite data can be applied to Ghanaian agriculture.

The project monitored crop health and developed algorithms to classify crops. Ghana is also expanding its use of Earth observation data and artificial intelligence for crop monitoring and yield prediction.

But predicting yields has proved more difficult. Tandoh said the model’s accuracy fell short of expectations, largely because many Ghanaian farmers practise smallholder mixed cropping and satellite soil-moisture data are too coarse to capture differences between small farms.

A follow-up project supported by the French embassy and international research partners, is now working to improve the estimates.

The GSSTI has also used satellite data to track forest loss linked to mining and is working with partners in Nigeria on a digital twin to simulate coastal erosion at Keta and Agavedzi. Japanese cooperation has provided technical training while the French government supported work on space legislation that produced a draft now being reviewed by the attorney general.

“We always say that Ghana Space Science and Technology Institute becoming an agency is to position Ghana in a way that we will not only be users of the technology but we will also contribute to designing, developing and building our own tools,” Tandoh said.

The funding wall

Victor Tagborloh founded Galaxy Aerospace Ghana in 2020. Two years later, his team launched a high-altitude balloon into near space, capturing images of Ghana’s geography with clearance from national security and airport authorities.

The company has since designed mini-rockets for the GSSTI, trained young people in space robotics and artificial intelligence and pushed for the introduction of Starlink in Ghana in 2024.

But Tagborloh said the company has yet to secure an investor, six years after it was founded.

Galaxy’s longer-term plans include a space university on 33,000 hectares (82,000 acres) that it has secured at Apam in Ghana’s Central Region as well as a ground station that would give the country greater capacity to monitor floods, mining activity and coastal erosion.

The company is seeking investors for the ground station and a geospatial intelligence platform. Tagborloh said the curriculum is ready and the land is available. What is missing is the capital to turn those plans into infrastructure.

He also argued that Ghana’s position near the equator could provide an advantage for launching spacecraft, potentially reducing the fuel required to reach orbit. Several other African countries share similar geography.

But Tagborloh’s ambition goes beyond launching rockets. He wants Ghana to develop more of the infrastructure and expertise needed to build its own space capabilities.

Who is building the industry?

Bright Atsu Sogbey, president of the Africa Development Council and a senior research engineer at the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission, argued that the private sector cannot build the industry alone.

“Borrowed technology cannot be sustainable,” Sogbey told Al Jazeera. “The state must be in the driver’s seat, using the natural resources we have to ensure that, in partnership with the private sector, we can have laboratories and manufacturing hubs for the space industry.”

He pointed to South Africa, Egypt and Nigeria, which have established space laboratories and manufactured test satellites. Ghana, he said, still lacks the state-backed laboratories and manufacturing hubs needed to produce more of its own components rather than importing them.

“Enough of the talk shop,” Sogbey said. “The next expo should see African satellites assembled on this continent and launching capability for African satellites.”

Engineer Daniel Aboagye, CEO of African Progressive Research and Innovations, said the change must also begin in education.

“With how technology is advancing, Africa must introduce space science into its education systems,” Aboagye told Al Jazeera. “We cannot continue to be consumers of technology we do not understand.”

Kwadwo Dwomo II, CEO of COMCENT Ghana, works on agritech systems that depend on satellite data. He also called for greater government investment in the sector.

Ghana is home to a small cluster of companies, including Galaxy Aerospace, Xavier Space Solutions and Ayeji Aerospace, working in areas such as satellite technology, Earth observation and geospatial services.

Galaxy Aerospace confirmed to Al Jazeera that it was unable to participate in this year’s expo. The company said it hopes to participate in the next expo.

A continental project

The challenge facing Ghana is shared across much of Africa: moving from using space technology to developing and building more of it locally while overcoming limited investment, infrastructure and manufacturing capacity.

ASPEX was designed in part to address that gap.

The African Space Agency, headquartered in Egypt, is intended to provide a continental framework for cooperation while the expo aims to connect investors with African start-ups, researchers and space projects.

But the distance between the ambitions presented at the expo and the resources available to engineers trying to turn them into businesses remains substantial.

For Tandoh, Ghana’s immediate priority is to build the application layer: a satellite-data processing hub capable of serving ministries across government before the country moves further into designing and launching its own satellites.

“Space cuts across all the ministries,” he told Al Jazeera. “We should be able to build and validate our own tools first.”

For Tagborloh, the timeline is more urgent.

“We shouldn’t wait for tomorrow,” he told Al Jazeera. “Whatever decision we have to take, especially for human resource capital in the space industry, it has to be now.”

Ghana has the policy. It has engineers, research institutions and companies trying to build a space industry. What it does not yet have is the capital and manufacturing capacity to turn those capabilities into a domestic industry.

“We have the team, the knowledge, the research and the technical know-how,” Tagborloh told Al Jazeera. “We just need funds.”

Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed a bill that prohibits third-party brokers from advertising, selling or transferring tee-time reservations at publicly owned golf courses without the written consent of the course operator.

The state legislation is a response to a network of brokers that had sprouted up around Los Angeles municipal golf course tee times.

These brokers, many of whom were in the Korean community, would gobble up tee times, then advertise them on social media, particularly the Korean app KakaoTalk. They charged up to $40 as a booking fee.

Getting tee-time reservations at L.A. municipal golf courses had long been difficult. But after golf influencer Dave Fink revealed evidence of the broker network to his viewers, the problem became public.

“This is an issue that affects everybody who pays taxes in the city, and anybody who plays golf as well, so I just felt like it was my duty to say something,” Fink said in an interview with The Times in March 2024.

After Fink’s videos went viral, the L.A. Department of Recreation and Parks announced an investigation into the practice.

The state has more than 200 municipally owned golf courses, according to Assemblymember Christopher M. Ward (D-San Diego), who authored the bill.

“Public golf courses belong to the public, and residents shouldn’t have to compete with brokers buying up tee times just to turn around and sell them at inflated prices,” he said in a statement Sunday.

The legislation “puts an end,” he said, “to this unfair practice and helps ensure local residents, seniors, students and families can continue accessing the public courses their communities support.”

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has stopped publicly revealing where it is holding thousands of detainees who are subject to final deportation orders, an unannounced move that has made it far more difficult for lawyers and relatives to find them, according to current and former officials familiar with the practice.

ICE removed those detainees from its online detainee locator system on Sept. 15, according to three current and former ICE officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the change. Several lawyers contacted by The Associated Press confirmed their clients vanished from the system this week, and the American Immigration Lawyers Association warned its members about the situation Friday.

The move represents a stark departure from previous practice and highlights the hardline nature of President Trump’s immigration crackdown, leaving thousands of detainees exceedingly hard to trace and potentially unable to exercise all of their legal options.

The practice, which applies to detainees who have received final orders of removal from an immigration court, could speed deportations by making last-minute legal challenges harder to pursue, immigration lawyers said. Nearly 16,000 people who were arrested and booked into ICE detention in July were subject to final removal orders, more than a third of the overall bookings, according to ICE data obtained by the Deportation Data Project based at U.C. Berkeley and UCLA.

The practice does not apply to detainees held at a detention facility in Adelanto, California or at temporary holding facilities in Minneapolis, New York City or suburban Chicago, the sources said. Judges have ordered ICE to list detainees in those facilities in the online locator promptly upon their arrival, as part of litigation over their detention practices.

Lawyers and relatives distressed by lack of information on detainees

The effort to hide their locations adds to the ways in which the Trump administration has made life harder for detainees and their families as it has increased pressure on them to waive appeals and agree to deportation.

ICE did not publicize the move and in a statement issued to the AP, the agency did not confirm or deny it. The statement said detainees with final removal orders were being prioritized for deportation, even as ICE faces a “historic number of injunctions” from courts stopping individual removals.

As a result of the change, lawyers and relatives lost track of their clients and loved ones without explanation, which is especially concerning because detainees are frequently moved to new facilities before deportation, said Greg Chen, senior director of government relations at the American Immigration Lawyers Association.

“Families are freaking out because they think the person has been deported and they don’t know where the person might be,” he said. “On the attorney side, this has serious implications for the ability to contact their client. It certainly has implications about how it will interfere with the attorney-client relationship.”

The Department of Homeland Security, ICE’s parent agency, has argued that people who are subject to final removal orders have received due process. That usually means an immigration judge has ordered their removal after a hearing, including cases when immigrants fail to show up, and the decision was affirmed on appeal or not appealed.

Detainees with final removal orders still have options to appeal

Still, those detainees have options to challenge their detention and removal, including seeking to reopen the case or by bringing what’s known as a habeas petition asking a judge to release them on constitutional grounds. Federal judges have granted thousands of rulings ordering that detainees be released or granted bond hearings.

ICE detention facilities held more than 65,000 people as of early July, the most recent available data. Around 30% of them likely have final removal orders, said Michelle Mendez, legal director at the National Immigration Project.

More people have been issued final removal orders after failing to show up for hearings in recent months because the administration’s immigration courts have taken steps to make it harder to participate and to reopen such cases, she said.

“To me, it’s just another iteration of disappearing people,” she said. “Why would we do that in the United States of America? It’s something we’d hear about in another country and be concerned about individual rights and due process.”

Some with final removal orders also have legal protections against deportation to their countries of origin based on the likelihood they would be tortured or persecuted. Many of them are facing removal to third-party countries where they have no ties and their disappearance in ICE’s system will make legal challenges harder, lawyers said.

Lawyers say clients have vanished from ICE locator system

ICE initiated the online detainee locator system in 2010 to allow relatives, lawyers and the public to search for people in custody. Previously they had to call ICE regional offices or individual facilities to try to track them down.

Many advocates and lawmakers have complained that the system updates too slowly and contains too much inaccurate or missing information, allowing ICE to shield the locations of detainees for days or weeks. Minors, people who have been held by U.S. Customs and Border Protection for less than 48 hours, and detainees who are being transported are not in the system, among others.

But the exclusion of detainees with final removal orders has no apparent parallel, several immigration lawyers said. Atenas Burrola Estrada, a deputy program director with the Amica Center for Immigrant Rights, said that “every single one of our clients who has a final order has disappeared from the locator,” including 17 in all as of Monday.

Among those disappeared from the locator system are eight Somali men being detained at the U.S. military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, according to one of their attorneys, My Khanh Ngo, of the American Civil Liberties Union. She said the change could make it “nearly impossible” for people to challenge their removals in some cases.

“If you can’t find your client, don’t know what’s happening to your client, you can’t get that information to the court to stop their removal,” she said.

Foley writes for the Associated Press.