Immigration and Customs Enforcement has recorded its deadliest year since the early 2000s as agency officials push to increase the number of people in its custody.
According to a review of deaths by NPR, at least 20 people have died in ICE custody so far this year. The number comes as ICE is also holding nearly 60,000 people in immigration detention, the highest number in several years.
Deaths reached a peak in 2025 for the first time since 32 deaths were recorded in 2004, and 20 deaths were recorded in 2005.
Former agency officials are warning that increased detention population, decreased oversight, an increase in street and community arrests and continued difficulties staffing medical teams will result in more deaths. This summer, ICE received about $70 billion to hire more staff, including deportation and detention officers, and increase its detention space. Across the country, media and immigration advocates have reported overcrowding, unsanitary conditions and issues with food and health care access — a byproduct of a rapid scaling-up of immigration arrests.
"Can staffing actually keep pace with the increase in population? And that becomes particularly challenging in more remote locations where it was already difficult to find qualified staff willing to come out and work," said Peter Mina, who worked at ICE for nearly a decade and then six years as a deputy officer for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties at DHS. "And that just places risk all across the system, including, unfortunately, individuals in detention facing medical conditions that might result in their death."
ICE did not respond to an immediate request for comment on the count.
Mina's former office at DHS was among those that would conduct investigations following a detainee death. Additional investigations were conducted by the ICE Health Services Corps and the Immigration Office of Detention Oversight. CRCL was among the oversight offices at the department that saw hundreds of staff cuts earlier this year. Other CRCL employees have previously told NPR that the gutting of their office could result in more deaths in custody.
During the ongoing government shutdown, DHS has confirmed, the Office of Detention Oversight is not working.
So far this month, two more detainees have died in custody. Medical conditions surrounding deaths over the last calendar year have included tuberculosis, strokes, respiratory failure and about three possible suicides. Each preliminary report includes a synopsis of the detainees' immigration and criminal histories, as they have for past administrations, as well as the events leading to the time of death.