ICE custody deaths have reached their highest rate in more than a decade, with at least 52 deaths reported since January 2025, Human Rights Watch and Physicians for Human Rights said Thursday.
The groups said the annual mortality rate in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody rose 140% from January 2025 to January 2026 compared with the previous year.
Their joint report said the increase was disproportionate to the rise in the number of detained people. Human Rights Watch and Physicians for Human Rights said the death rate was nearly four times the level under former President Joe Biden.
They said it was also more than twice the rate recorded during US President Donald Trump’s first term. Reagan Williams, a Human Rights Watch researcher and report co-author, told AFP that the death rate in ICE custody had “skyrocketed”.
Delays and failures in medical care, including the case of Maksym Chernyak, a 44-year-old Ukrainian man who suffered a stroke in detention.
Report Says De@ths in ICE Custody Reach Highest Level in Over a Decade | Asia One News#Asiaone #EnglishNews #AsiaOneNews #ICE #Immigration #UnitedStates #HumanRights #DonaldTrump #DetentionCenters pic.twitter.com/bV6lA39hY4
— ASIA ONE NEWS (@AsiaOne_News) June 25, 2026It also cited the death of Lorenzo Antonio Batrez Vargas, whose family sought records after his death in ICE custody in 2025. The Department of Homeland Security denied the reported spike.
A DHS spokesperson said the custody death rate under the Trump administration was 0.009% of the detained population.
Seven people died by suicide in ICE custody from January 2025 to January 2026, compared with one in 2024.
