Where to ask for immigration records

Any member of the public can ask these offices for records. Many requests cost little or nothing, but each office sets fees under its own law. Pick the office that holds what you need; each card links to that office's own request page. Everything here is free to read.

Federal offices

Each federal office keeps its own records and answers its own requests under the federal Freedom of Information Act, so send yours to the office that made or keeps the record.

State and local agencies

Local police, sheriffs, county jails and state agencies answer requests under their own state's or territory's public records law, not federal FOIA. These lists start from ICE's own published lists and link to each public body's own request page where this site has checked it.

Choose a state or territory

Every entry comes from a list ICE publishes; 48 states and territories appear on at least one of ICE's lists. ICE's lists were last checked October 13, 2026. Each state page gives the date ICE last updated each list. Request pages are checked by hand one state at a time; so far, Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming. Until a state is checked, its entries say “Request page not yet checked” and link to a guide to that state's records law.

ICE's facility locator also lists Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, JTF Camp Six and Migrant Ops Center Main A (Miami Field Office), with no state. For ICE's records about it, see ICE's FOIA page.

Free guides we credit

Others have done careful work on these requests. These are free to read; this site links to them rather than copying them.

• State and local records request guide and template (PDF), National Immigrant Justice Center and Detention Watch Network. A template for asking a county about an ICE detention contract.
• Using Your State's Open Records Law for Immigration Advocacy, CLINIC, ILRC, Center for Constitutional Rights and American Immigration Council (2020). State-by-state approach and a template request.
• FOIA requests at DHS, Immigrant Legal Resource Center practice advisory (September 2026). How to file FOIA requests with DHS agencies.
• Open Government Guide, Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. How each state's records law works; each state page here links to that state's guide where one exists.
• “How to follow the paper trail of ICE's local immigration enforcement” and “Reporting on ICE with public records: A quick-start guide”, MuckRock (2026).