Families, advocates, and lawmakers say poor care, opaque investigations, and bureaucracy leave deaths unexplained as the number of fatalities in US immigration custody reaches a record high under the second Trump administration. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) reports, autopsy records, and 911 calls obtained by the Guardian raise questions about medical care, emergency responses, and disease outbreaks in detention facilities.
Just last week, 41-year-old Afghan asylum seeker Mohommad Nazeer Paktyawal died in ICE custody in Texas, followed by 19-year-old Royer Perez-Jimenez from Mexico, who died in a presumed suicide at a Florida facility. Perez-Jimenez is the youngest to die in ICE custody since Trump returned to the White House, bringing the total known deaths to 42.
Veronica Escobar, a Democratic congresswoman from Texas, described the system as a “quagmire created by choice,” citing the maze of federal agencies, local medical examiners, and private contractors. Her district includes Camp East Montana, a tent facility on Fort Bliss holding up to 5,000 detainees, where several deaths have occurred and conditions have been criticised by the ACLU.
Nationwide, there have been six suicides in immigration custody in the last 13 months, the highest in eight years. The 42 deaths occurred across facilities holding nearly 70,000 immigrants, a record number. The Trump administration plans to expand detention further by converting warehouses in several states.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) denied a spike in deaths, stating the death rate is 0.009% of the detained population, though it did not provide a source. A DHS spokesperson claimed the agency maintains higher standards of care than most US prisons, but critics argue the lack of transparency and accountability has left families searching for answers.
