ICE Investigated 29 Detainee Deaths and Found Unsafe Medical Care in 23, With No Sanctions Listed in Reports

Migration and Customs Enforcement’s own detectives discovered that detainees got lacking healthcare before 23 of 29 deaths in custody throughout the very first year of Donald Trump’s 2nd term.

The internal evaluations, acquired by the San Francisco Chronicle, likewise discovered personnel stopped working to carry out CPR appropriately, or at all, in a minimum of 8 cases.

news What ICE’s Reviews Found

The San Francisco Chronicle got ICE’s internal reports on 29 detainees who passed away in between January 2025 and January 2026 through a public records demand.

In 23 of those cases, private investigators discovered that detention personnel ‘differed safe limitations of practice’ or ‘did not offer treatment within safe limitations of practice’, The New Republic reported, mentioning the Chronicle.

ICE’s examinations stated lacking care straight added to 20 of the 23 deaths, Truthout reported. In 3, private investigators concluded it did not straight contribute. The firm stated the staying 6 detainees got care within appropriate limitations.

news CPR Failures and a Reported Heart Attack

The reports explain failures at one of the most standard level. In a minimum of 8 cases, medical personnel stopped working to carry out CPR properly or did not perform it at all.

In one case in California, Huabing Xie reported chest discomfort, however neither monitoring medical supplier assessed or treated him. He passed away of a cardiac arrest almost 2 hours later on, according to the Chronicle’s restoration from internal ICE files, MundoNow reported.

Households explain comparable failures in more current deaths. Emiliano Andrade-Covarrubias, a 56-year-old Mexican nationwide who had actually resided in the United States for years, passed away on 17 October at the Rio Grande Processing Center in Laredo, Texas. His household declared he was rejected medication and care, Truthout reported. ICE has actually challenged such accounts, and the reason for his death has actually not been revealed. Mexico’s foreign ministry stated his death gave 18 the variety of Mexican nationals who had actually passed away in United States custody or throughout migration enforcement operations considering that January 2025.

Protection of the evaluations does not discuss any disciplinary action or sanctions versus personnel or specialists.

news DHS’s ‘Best Care’ Claim

The findings oppose the federal government’s public position. The Department of Homeland Security has stated its migration detention centers offer ‘prompt and proper healthcare’, which ‘the treatment in ICE detention is the very best care’ numerous immigrants have actually gotten, Truthout reported.

2025 saw the most immigrant detainee deaths considering that 2003, and a minimum of 31 individuals had actually passed away in ICE detention in 2026 by early November, according to a tally pointed out by The New Republic. ICE firmly insists there has actually been no spike. The publication likewise reported that ICE informed outdoors medical service providers in January it would not resume processing their payment declares for months.

In June, ICE altered its policy to stop reporting and examining deaths of individuals who pass away within 30 days of release. In one case, Prisciliano Trejo Ricano passed away soon after ICE launched him from custody while he was supposedly in a coma. His household declared he had actually been rejected prompt treatment. ICE does not count him amongst deaths in custody.

Issues are not brand-new. In October 2025, a report from Sen. Jon Ossoff pointed out ’85 reliable reports of medical disregard’ at United States detention centres, though these were not adjudicated findings. With Democrats taking control of Congress in January, detention conditions are anticipated to deal with fresh examination.