Overview
- Human Rights Watch and Physicians for Human Rights found at least 52 deaths in ICE custody in the first 500 days of President Trump’s second term and said the mortality rate rose about 140 percent while the detained population grew about 77 percent.
- ICE quietly narrowed its public reporting in June to count only deaths that occur while a person remains physically in custody, a policy shift critics say will hide deaths tied to detention care after hospital transfers or release.
- A 63-year-old Mexican man, Felix Alcorta-Rodriguez, died at Webb County Detention Center on June 19 and the facility — run by CoreCivic — had earlier been cited by ICE for multiple care-related violations.
- The Department of Homeland Security inspector general announced on June 25 two new reviews, one of the rise in detainee deaths covering Oct. 1, 2021 through Mar. 31, 2026 and another of use-of-force practices at ICE facilities.
- Rights groups document repeated care failures — delayed transfers, mishandled emergencies, Covid isolation problems and suicides — and say expanding detention, overcrowding, contractor staffing shortfalls and past payment disruptions for medical providers are likely drivers of the crisis and fuel calls for independent, mandatory investigations and stronger congressional oversight.