Deaths in ICE Custody Are Rising at an Alarming Rate

[Photo Credit: Luis Aguilar from Agence France-Presse/Getty Images]

Since the start of Donald Trump’s second term, at least 53 people have died in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). According to Human Rights Watch, people are dying at nearly four times the rate as under the Biden Administration and more than double the rate during Trump’s first term.

Why does an agency with an ethical and legal obligation to protect the life and health of people it detains keep having people die on its watch?

What ICE Reports Reveal About Deaths in Custody

Thanks to congressionally mandated reporting requirements, at least some information about these tragic deaths is publicly available. The details provided are often scant, however, and ICE’s version of events is not infrequently contradicted by other evidence. For example, on January 3, 2026, 55-year-old Geraldo Lunas Campos, a native of Cuba, died at a detention camp in El Paso, Texas.

The official ICE report blamed the death on “spontaneous use of force to prevent Mr. Lunas Campos from harming himself.” An autopsy, however, ruled the death a homicide. 

How People Are Dying in ICE Custody

Violent Deaths in ICE Custody

Other immigrants have also suffered violent deaths in ICE custody. Miguel Ángel García-Hernández, age 31, and Norlan Guzman-Fuentes, age 37, were fatally shot by a sniper outside the Dallas field office on September 24, 2025. (A third victim, 33-year-old Jose Andres Bordones-Molina, was shot but survived.) No immigration officials were shot.

Suicides in ICE Detention Facilities

According to an investigation by the Associated Press, at least 10 detained men have died by suicide during Trump’s second term. These include:

• 45-year-old Jesús Molina-Veya, originally from Mexico, who was found hanging from the top bunk in his cell at at Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia on June 7, 2025;
• 27-year-old Brayan Rayo-Garzon, originally from Colombia, who was found with a blanket around his neck in his cell at Phelps County Jail in Rolla, Missouri, on April 8, 2025;
• 32-year old Chaofeng Ge, originally from China, who was found hanging in a shower stall at the Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Philipsburg, Pennsylvania on August 5, 2025;
• 34-year-old Leo Cruz-Silva, originally from Mexico, who was found with a ligature around his neck in his cell at Sainte Genevieve County Jail in Sainte Genevieve, Missouri, on October 4, 2025;
• 39-year-old Delvin Francisco Rodriguez, originally from Nicaragua, who was found hanging at the New Orleans Adams County Correctional Center on December 4, 2025. He was transported to a nearby hospital and placed on a ventilator where he died 10 days later.
• 34-year-old Heber Sanchez Dominguez, originally from Mexico, who was found hanging from a bunk in his cell at the Robert A. Deyton Detention Facility in Lovejoy, Georgia on January 14, 2026;
• 36-year-old Victor Manuel Diaz, originally from Nicaragua, who was found unresponsive with a ligature around his neck, in his cell at El Paso Camp East Montana also on January 14, 2026;
• 19-year-old Royer Perez Jimenez, originally from Mexico, who was found hanging in the shower at the Glades County Detention Center in Moore Haven, Florida, on March 16, 2026;
• 27-year-old Aled Carbonell Betancourt, originally from Cuba, who was found hanging from a bunk in his cell at the Miami Federal Detention Center on April 12, 2026; and
• 33-year-old Denny Adan Gonzalez, originally from Cuba, who was found hanging by a sheet in his cell at Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia, on April 28, 2026.

As Human Rights Watch explains, “In a custodial environment, the state has significant capacity to monitor wellbeing and safety, and to prevent and respond to attempted suicide.”

Medical Neglect and Delayed Care in ICE Custody

Many other immigrants in ICE custody have died following illness, infections, addiction withdrawal, cardiac events, or strokes. A review of detainee deaths by Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) determined “inadequate or delayed health care” was partially or completely responsible for several of these deaths. For example:

• Maksym Chernyak, a 44-year-old originally from Ukraine, was pronounced dead on February 20, 2025, less than a month after being taken into ICE custody. He suffered a stroke on February 18 and PHR found that “[d]elays in getting him to higher level medical care almost certainly contributed to his death.”
• Santos Reyes Banegas, a 42-year-old originally from Honduras, died on September 18, 2025. Despite presenting with an elevated blood pressure and heart rate and positive symptoms of alcohol withdrawal upon intake, Mr. Reye Banegas was assigned to a cell, where he was found unresponsive the following morning. The emergency personnel who arrived at the scene pronounced him dead.
• Ismael Ayala Uribe, a 39-year-old originally from Mexico, died on September 22, 2025. He complained of “10, on a 10-point pain scale,” and “abnormal vital signs,” on September 18, 2025, yet was not transferred to a medical center for another three days. A little more than 24 hours after he arrived at the hospital, Mr. Uribe went into respiratory arrest and died, likely due to “overwhelming septic shock,” according to PHR.

Deaths With Little or No Public Explanation

Other men who have died in ICE custody are described as having “become unresponsive” (68-year-old Abelardo Avelleneda-Delgado), “discovered unresponsive” (43-year-old Mamuka Artmeladze), or “in distress” (41-year-old Jean Wilson Brutus) without further details about what might have led to their death.

ICE has also yet to release an official cause of death of Jesus Manuel Arenas-Silva, who died just a few days ago on July 13, 2026 while being transferred between two facilities in Georgia. His sister, however, has publicly stated that her brother had medical needs that were being ignored and he was not given his required medication.

Calls for Investigations Into Deaths in ICE Custody

The high number of deaths of people in ICE custody—coupled with multiple fatal shootings by immigration officers of people on the street—led Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum this week to formally request that criminal charges be filed in these cases, which she characterized as “human rights violations against our fellow citizens.” Seventeen Mexican nationals have been killed in ICE custody or during ICE enforcement operations, according to CNN.

BPR Calls for Accountability and an End to Civil Immigration Detention

We at Benach Pitney Reilly Immigration condemn the tragic loss of life happening to immigrants in ICE custody. Our government is spending billions of dollars to detain people and failing to keep them safe, despite the fact that the majority of those detained have committed no crimes.

BPR calls for an end to detention for civil violations as well as full and impartial investigations of all deaths that have occurred on ICE’s watch.