Overview
- The Department of Homeland Security confirmed on Friday that a memo from interim ICE director David Venturella ends the agency’s duty to monitor or review deaths that happen after a person leaves ICE custody within 30 days.
- The policy reverses a 2021 Biden administration rule that required ICE to report and investigate deaths occurring up to 30 days after release to prevent the agency from avoiding responsibility by releasing very ill detainees.
- Public-health experts say removing the post-release window will mask preventable deaths caused by interrupted medications, untreated infections, diagnostic errors, and complications that emerge after release.
- The change comes as deaths in ICE custody have risen sharply, with reporting and studies showing 2025 was the deadliest year in two decades and about 49 deaths recorded since the start of the current administration, while ICE’s detained population has grown above 60,000.
- ICE has not yet published the full revised policy text and DHS reiterated a commitment to transparency even as contractors and the agency have often resisted disclosing medical staffing and care records, which could limit outside oversight and congressional review.