The record number of deaths in US immigration custody under the second Trump administration has left families and advocates struggling to obtain answers, amid a lack of transparency over key investigations. Loved ones often search in vain for explanations as bureaucratic obstacles and opaque procedures obscure the circumstances surrounding the deaths.
Recent cases include Mohommad Nazeer Paktyawal, a 41-year-old Afghan asylum seeker who had worked with US special forces, who died in ICE custody in Texas. Days earlier, 19-year-old Royer Perez-Jimenez from Mexico died in what ICE called a 'presumed suicide' at a facility in Florida, becoming the youngest to die in custody since the president returned to office. The deaths bring the known total to 42 during this administration.
Texas congresswoman Veronica Escobar described the network of federal agencies, local medical examiners, and private contractors operating detention facilities as a 'massive problem' and a 'quagmire created by choice'. Her district includes Camp East Montana on the Fort Bliss army base, built to hold up to 5,000 detainees in tents and the largest immigration facility in the US. Several deaths have occurred there, and advocates have called for its closure over alleged poor conditions.
Nationally, there have been six suicides in immigration custody over the past 13 months, the most in such a period in eight years, according to limited government records. The 42 deaths have occurred among nearly 70,000 immigrants now detained across the US, a record number, with plans to expand further by converting warehouses in several states.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) denied any spike, stating that death rates in custody are 0.009% of the detained population, but provided no source for the figure. A spokesperson said standards of care were higher than in most prisons holding US citizens, and for many illegal aliens this was the best healthcare they had received. The response also highlighted criminal histories of some detainees, though many who died had no criminal record.
Immigration data expert Austin Kocher said deaths were now occurring at a rate of roughly one every four days, accelerating from one every six days three weeks ago. He noted that Congress had not launched an investigation, and the pace was increasing.
