Deaths in ICE Custody Surge in 2026, Averaging 1 Every Week

As the Trump administration continues to rapidly expand its immigration jail system across the United States, we look at the rising death toll of people in ICE custody, the highest in over two decades. The causes of the deaths have varied, but they include at least one homicide. At least 17 people have died in ICE custody since January.

“I have never seen anything like this, where I’m seeing ICE reporting out at least one death per week,” says Setareh Ghandehari, advocacy director at Detention Watch Network. “People are reaching the point of emergency for issues that could easily be dealt with if proper medical care was given.”

Ghandehari notes the rising opposition to the Department of Homeland Security’s conversion of “former industrial warehouses” into ICE jails. “It’s been really inspiring to see people across the country standing up in solidarity with their immigrant neighbors and saying, ‘We don’t want these types of facilities in our communities,’” says Ghandehari.

TRANSCRIPT

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

AMY GOODMAN: As the Trump administration continues to rapidly expand its immigration jail system across the country, we look now at the rising death toll of people in ICE custody, which has reached a record high in over two decades. At least 17 immigrants are reported to have died in ICE custody since January — that’s on average about an immigrant death a week.

The most recent death is of 27-year-old Aled Damien Carbonell-Betancourt, an immigrant from Cuba who was jailed in Miami. He reportedly died of a presumed suicide, but the cause is still under investigation.

At least 48 immigrants have died in custody since President Trump returned to office. The cause of death has varied, but includes at least one homicide. In January, El Paso County’s medical examiner found that 55-year-old Geraldo Lunas Campos died from asphyxia due to neck and chest compression. Lunas Campos was pronounced dead January 3rd at Camp East Montana, a sprawling immigration detention tent camp at the Fort Bliss military base in El Paso. ICE claimed the Cuban father had died after experiencing medical distress, but several immigrants that he was jailed with later testified they heard Lunas Campos pleading for medication shortly before guards tackled him to the ground. One of the witnesses said in a sworn court declaration he heard a guard tell Lunas Campos, “Shut up, or we’re going to make you faint.” He added, quote, “The last thing I heard was Geraldo speak in a voice that sounded like he couldn’t breathe. He said, ‘Let go of me. You’re asphyxiating me,’” unquote. The Associated Press also reported a witness saw Lunas Campos handcuffed as at least five guards held him down, while one put an arm around his neck and squeezed until he was unconscious.

Meanwhile, a San Francisco Chronicle investigation found over a dozen deaths under the Trump administration could have been prevented with proper medical care. The Chronicle examined several cases, including Maksym Chernyak — he had a seizure, but they waited to call 911; Luis Beltrán Yanez-Cruz — he complained of chest pain but wasn’t seen by a doctor for weeks; Santos Banegas Reyes — he was in withdrawal but not sent to the ER; Lorenzo Antonio Batrez Vargas — he couldn’t breathe, but they told him to wait; and Ismael Ayala-Uribe — he was in severe pain, but they sent him back to his cell.

For more, we go to Washington, D.C., where we’re joined by Setareh Ghandehari, advocacy director at Detention Watch Network.

Can you explain this surge in deaths, Setareh? I’m talking about deaths of immigrants in ICE custody. Explain what you have found.

SETAREH GHANDEHARI: Good morning, Amy, and thanks for having me.

As you said in your intro, we’ve already seen 17 people die in ICE custody this year, which is an average of about one death per week. And I can tell you, I’ve been tracking these numbers for several years now, including during the COVID-19 pandemic, which was another point where we hit a record number of deaths, and I have never seen anything like this, where I’m seeing ICE reporting out at least one death per week. It’s really shocking. And, of course, this comes on the heels of a record number of deaths in ICE custody last year, which also doesn’t include the number of deaths that have occurred as ICE has been chaotically and violently targeting immigrant communities during their enforcement actions. At this point, if we continue to see the same pace of deaths, with one death per week, we’re set to far exceed last year’s record by the end of this year.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Setareh, how do you explain, given all the amount, all the extra, additional, skyrocketing amounts of money that the Trump administration has given to ICE, that they seem unable to provide the kind of care necessary for the people they detain?

SETAREH GHANDEHARI: Sure. Well, you know, ICE has been acting with impunity now for decades. And we have seen, really, that the system is inherently violent. It’s inherently abusive. We’ve seen these kinds of conditions now that have been documented for decades.

And as the Trump administration came into office last year and embarked on its violent and cruel mass deportation campaign, we know that immigration detention has been a key pillar of that campaign. You know, they issued several executive orders in the first days, all of which emphasized the need for expanding ICE detention. They really kicked off this entire campaign with their announcement about expanding migrant detention at Guantánamo Bay, and they entered into an agreement with the government of El Salvador to offshore detention.

And so, these two announcements, in many ways, really served to normalize the sort of everyday expansion of the system, where we have seen ICE expand its usual contracts with local jails and sheriffs and local prisons. We’ve seen them expand into military bases, as you mentioned, at Fort Bliss in Texas and others. We have seen a massive expansion into the federal prison system, the reopening of shuttered Bureau of Prisons facilities, agreements — really unprecedented agreements — with state governments to open facilities, including the cruelly dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” in Florida in the Everglades, as well as the reopening of a shuttered state prison in Indiana. So, they have really gone all out.

And, of course, last summer, their efforts were boosted by a massive, unprecedented infusion of funds from Congress that has allowed them to really ramp up this expansion of the ICE detention system. So, as Congress is pouring more and more money into ICE and CBP, this money is being used to really expand the system. And, of course, the conditions remain as dire as ever and are being exacerbated, because we know that ICE doesn’t really care about the well-being of the people in its custody.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And who is responsible for providing medical care and mental healthcare in ICE facilities? Could you talk about the third-party contractors?

SETAREH GHANDEHARI: Sure, yes. ICE contracts with third parties to provide medical care. The reality is, the system is set up for — you know, with a profit incentive. And, of course, you know, ICE isn’t really interested in caring for the people in its custody. They’re interested in getting as many people into detention and deporting as many people as possible. So, routine care goes ungiven. People are ignored to the point of emergency. And so, we see, you know, all deaths in ICE custody really are preventable, because no one should be in the system to begin with. It’s inherently violent. But we’re seeing more and more that people are reaching the point of emergency for issues that could easily be dealt with if proper medical care was given.

AMY GOODMAN: Can you talk about the growing opposition around the country to the ICE detention facilities? And what has happened since Kristi Noem left, purchasing warehouses across the country to imprison thousands of immigrants? What’s happened to those facilities, Setareh?

SETAREH GHANDEHARI: With the warehouses, this is the most recent venture that ICE has gone into in order to expand its system. Of course, in December, they announced plans to purchase dozens of former industrial warehouses across the country and convert them into ICE detention facilities.

And, of course, we have seen a massive opposition to these warehouses. It’s been really inspiring to see people across the country standing up in solidarity with their immigrant neighbors and saying, you know, “We don’t want these types of facilities in our communities, in our country. It’s wrong.” And, you know, this is, again, part of a much broader effort that has been going on for many years now. At Detention Watch Network, we coordinate the Communities Not Cages campaign, where folks across the country have been fighting against ICE detention centers in their communities for many years. But what we’ve seen with the announcement of these warehouses is really a grassroots sort of swelling opposition to the growth of this system into facilities that are warehouses. They’re meant for industrial labor, for warehousing goods, not for detaining people. And they’ve been successful, and it’s been such, such an inspiration to see.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Well, last week, Todd Lyons, the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, resigned. Now, he’d never been confirmed by the Senate in his appointment. Your reaction to his resignation and his tenure?

SETAREH GHANDEHARI: Sure. I mean, what we’ve seen over the last several weeks is sort of a superficial shake-up of the leadership at ICE and DHS. And I think it’s really important to note that, you know, Todd Lyons might be out, but the agenda and the goals of this administration remain the same.

And I think what it does speak to, however, is this growing opposition to this violent and chaotic and cruel mass detention and deportation agenda. People across the country are saying, “No, this is not the kind of country that we want to live in.” And so, I think that’s why we’re seeing this sort of shaky place where the leadership is. And, you know, I think we are prepared to continue that opposition.

This weekend, together with folks across the country, we’re engaging in coordinated actions in more than 160 locations across the country to stand up and fight back against this warehouse expansion. And I think, you know, hearing that, seeing that opposition over the last several months has forced ICE to sort of put a pause on that. But I think it’s important to remember, you know, first of all, ICE lies. I’m sure that there’s negotiations happening behind the scenes. Several warehouses have already been purchased and are set to open. So we’re going to — we’re going to do everything we can to stop that infrastructure from being established.

And, you know, this is — it’s important to remember that this is really part of a broader scheme to expand the ICE detention system. So, we really need to keep paying attention to this, because ICE is determined to expand its capacity to detain people to more than 100,000 people at any given time, which is really a shocking number and, you know, parallel to the number of Japanese Americans that were incarcerated during World War II. So, I don’t think we can overemphasize how dire and how unprecedented this agenda is by the current administration.

AMY GOODMAN: Before we go, Setareh, if you could describe the ongoing detention of families and children at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in Texas? That’s the ICE jail there. Reporter Sarah Stillman writes in The New Yorker, “Under the Trump Administration, thousands of immigrant children have been detained, … many have suffered from medical neglect.” If you can explain that? And then, ultimately, who is responsible for providing medical care all over? Talk more about these third-party contractors.

SETAREH GHANDEHARI: Sure, yes. Well, as you mentioned, the Dilley detention center in Texas is a family detention center. That means people are being detained there with their children. This was a practice that the United States has done for many years. It went away during the last administration, and the Trump administration has brought it back. And as you said, hundreds of kids have been detained in really horrific conditions. I mean, you know, the ICE detention system, overall, is, as I said before, inherently inhumane, and we have seen really unconscionable conditions throughout the system that, you know, no human being should suffer through, and especially not kids. And we’re seeing very similar conditions to the adult detention centers at Dilley, where kids are being detained on a regular basis with their families, you know, being denied proper medical care. You know, their education is being interrupted. I mean, there’s really no amount of detention that is appropriate for a child, and yet we’re seeing kids in these prolonged situations in detention, and it’s really horrific.

And ultimately, ICE is responsible for the health and well-being of the people in its custody, and they’re utterly failing to provide that care. They are — they do contract with third parties. There’s a number of them that are contracted to provide medical care and other services inside of ICE detention centers. But, ultimately, it’s ICE’s responsibility, and ICE, you know, fails to hold their contractors accountable. Congress has failed to hold ICE accountable. So, it’s really just a vicious cycle that continues. And the whole time, you know, we have these private corporations profiting off of the pain and suffering of adults and children alike.

AMY GOODMAN: Setareh Ghandehari, we want to thank you for being with us, advocacy director at Detention Watch Network.

Coming up, “Caught in the Crackdown: As Arrests at Anti-ICE Protests Piled Up, Prosecutions Crumbled.” We’ll speak to A.C. Thompson about his new investigation for ProPublica and Frontline. Stay with us.

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AMY GOODMAN: “As I Walk,” written by the Lebanese musical composer Marcel Khalife, performed in New York by the NYC Palestinian Youth Choir. This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org. I’m Amy Goodman in San Francisco, with Juan González in Chicago. I’m in San Francisco for the national theatrical release of the documentary about Democracy Now! called Steal This Story, Please! We’re headed to California’s state capital, to Sacramento, today. The film will be showing at the Tower Theatre in Sacramento at 7 p.m. I’ll be doing the Q&A afterwards with the film’s director, Tia Lessin. And then, tomorrow, the film will show at the Roxie in San Francisco — I’ll be introducing it at 6:00. — and then in Berkeley, at the Rialto Elmwood, and we’ll be doing a Q&A afterwards. On Thursday, we’ll be in Seattle at SIFF. That’s the Seattle International Film Festival on Thursday night and on Friday night. And then we’re headed to Portland, Oregon, and beyond. It’s continuing to play in New York at the IFC and all over the country, in Los Angeles and beyond. You can go to democracynow.org to get the latest details where I will be.