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3w ago

ICE Detainee Death Rate Hits 22-Year High, Study Finds

Researchers tie the spike to poor care, weak oversight, overcrowded facilities.

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Maksym Chernyak, 44, was a war refugee from Ukraine. Chernyak died in Feb. 2025 in ICE custody after detention staff waited more than an hour to call 911 when he suffered a massive stroke.
Detainees wait to be processed inside Homeland Security's Willacy Detention Center, a facility with 10 giant tents that can house up to 2000 detained illegal immigrants, 10 May 2007 in Raymondville, Texas.
Camp East Montana is a sprawling immigration detention facility on the Fort Bliss military base along the Texas-Mexico border.

Overview

  • JAMA researchers reported Thursday that the partial 2026 fiscal year shows an annualized mortality rate of 88.9 deaths per 100,000 person-years, the highest since 2004.
  • ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons told House appropriators Thursday that at least 44 people have died in custody during his tenure and he acknowledged the agency has no codified policy to reduce deaths.
  • ICE shortened public death reports to brief summaries starting in mid-December and slowed postings during a partial DHS shutdown, though Lyons said there is no legal basis to treat death investigations as nonessential.
  • The detained population has grown from about 39,000 to more than 70,000 since early 2025, with reports of overcrowding and delays in care as facilities expanded.
  • Editors and investigators say many recent deaths occurred in contractor-run sites and nearly half of cases list undetermined causes, pointing to failures in medical care, suicide prevention, and accountability.