Thirty-two people died in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody in 2025, matching the previous record set in 2004 and making it the agency’s deadliest year in more than two decades. The deaths occurred as the Trump administration ramped up immigration enforcement, detaining a record number of people, with 68,440 held in mid-December, nearly 75% of whom had no criminal convictions.
Those who died included recent asylum seekers and long-term residents, some picked up in indiscriminate ICE raids. Causes of death ranged from seizure, heart failure, stroke, and respiratory failure to tuberculosis and suicide. Some died at detention centres, others in hospitals while still under ICE custody. Families and lawyers alleged neglect due to inadequate medical care.
December was the deadliest month, with seven deaths. Human rights advocates, immigration lawyers, and lawmakers reported unsanitary conditions, inadequate food, and poor medical care in increasingly crowded facilities. Setareh Ghandehari, advocacy director at Detention Watch Network, said: “This is a result of the deteriorating conditions inside of ICE detention.”
The Department of Homeland Security denied conditions were declining, stating it is “a longstanding practice to provide comprehensive medical care from the moment an alien enters ICE custody.” A spokesperson claimed the death rate was 0.00007%, but did not provide underlying data. Advocates warned that as detention expands, more deaths are likely.
Among the deceased were Genry Ruiz Guillén, 29, from Honduras, who died in Florida after reporting fainting spells; Serawit Gezahegn Dejene, 45, from Ethiopia, who died in Arizona after reporting an elevated heart rate; and Maksym Chernyak, 44, from Ukraine, who died of a stroke in Miami after being arrested over a domestic dispute described as a “family misunderstanding.”
