Deaths of migrants in ICE custody reach highest level in 20 years

Huabing Xie, an undocumented migrant from China, became the latest person to die in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody in fiscal year 2025, after passing away on September 29. His death also brought the total to at least 22 between October 2024 and September 30, 2025, representing the highest number in 20 years. More than half were Latino, and the total includes the two migrants killed by a sniper at an ICE office in Dallas last month.

The record for deaths in ICE custody was set in 2004, a year after the immigration agency’s creation. There were 32 reported deaths that year. The following year there were 20, a figure not surpassed again until 2020, during the Covid pandemic, when 21 deaths were recorded, according to government data. The 2025 data reinforces complaints about the inhumane conditions in which detained migrants are held, which have worsened in the last nine months since Donald Trump returned to power.

“It’s alarming that within the first nine months of the Trump administration we are quickly approaching the total number of deaths that occurred under Biden,” said the Detention Watch Network, a national coalition advocating for migrant rights, in a statement. Three of the 20 deaths in fiscal year 2025 occurred during the final months of Joe Biden’s term. During the Democrat’s four years in the White House, a total of 26 deaths were recorded among detainees in ICE custody. The first three years of his administration saw no more than four deaths per year, but in 2024, there were a dozen.

Despite that increase, the figures are lower than those recorded since Trump returned to the White House and began his crusade against immigration. Detention centers are overwhelmed, with the number of detainees already exceeding 60,000. The Republican president wants to add thousands of beds to accommodate the 3,000 arrests he wants to make per day, with the ultimate goal of achieving the largest deportation in history.

How detainees will be cared for remains an unknown, as the centers are far beyond their capacity and there are staffing shortages. Human rights defenders report that there are no doctors to treat the sick in ICE centers, that detainees are not provided with the medicines they need, and that they are kept locked up in places without access to basic hygiene and food.

A report by Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff of Georgia, released in July, summed up the situation: “Credibly reported or confirmed events include deaths in custody, physical and sexual abuse, mistreatment of pregnant women, mistreatment of children, inadequate medical care, overcrowding and unsanitary living conditions, inadequate food or water, exposure to extreme temperatures, denial of access to attorneys, and family separations.”

Three of the deaths in fiscal year 2025 were suicides, which human rights advocates say could have been caused by the treatment received after their detention. ICE insists that all detainees in its facilities receive comprehensive medical care, adequate nutrition, and the opportunity to communicate with their families and attorneys.

“I still don’t understand”

The families of some of the deceased have denounced the fact that the victims had no prior condition that would have predicted a tragic end. “I still don’t understand. How did this happen?” Lucía Uribe tearfully asked at a news conference on September 30. Her son, Ismael Ayala-Uribe, died on September 22 at Victor Valley Hospital, where he was transferred from the Adelanto Detention Center in California. Ayala-Uribe was arrested on August 17 while working at a car wash in Huntington Beach, where he had been employed for 15 years. The family maintains that his health was good and that they have not received an explanation as to how, in just over a month, the 39-year-old Mexican died in detention.

The deceased’s mother said she spoke to her son on the phone two or three times a day and could see how he was getting worse over time. “He already looked bad. His face was thin, he was pale. He said, ‘Mom, I can’t take it anymore.’ I told him to ask the guards for help, but he said they wouldn’t listen,” she said.

According to the ICE report, on September 18, the on-call physician at Adelanto gave him medication and he returned to his dorm. He was sent to the hospital on September 21 for further evaluation of a buttock abscess, and surgery was scheduled. The cause of death is under investigation.

The family’s attorney stated that they learned of the transfer to the hospital through a call from other detainees, as they had not received any notification from ICE. They are awaiting the results of the autopsy to decide whether to take legal action.

Ayala-Uribe arrived in the United States at the age of five and was a beneficiary of DACA, the program that granted work permits to those who entered the country illegally as children. The permit must be renewed periodically, but Ayala-Uribe’s application was denied because he had been charged twice with driving under the influence of alcohol. He died alone, separated from his family.

Ayala-Uribe’s case is not isolated. Also under investigation is the death of Santos Reyes Banegas, a 42-year-old Honduran man who died at the Nassau County Correctional Center in East Meadow, New York, on September 18, one day after being arrested. Reyes Banegas was found dead in his cell less than 18 hours after his arrest. ICE indicated that “the preliminary cause appears to be liver failure complicated by alcoholism.”

The family, however, called the explanation “absurd.” Reyes Banegas was working at a construction site when he was arrested on September 17. According to ICE, he passed a medical inspection and “was authorized for detention within two hours of arrival.” He was found unconscious in his cell hours later.

According to the immigration agency’s report, Reyes Banegas entered the United States illegally four times and had a deportation order. After his death, dozens of people demonstrated to demand the suspension of immigration detention at the Nassau prison and the elimination of the county’s contract with ICE, which reserves 50 cells for arrested individuals before transfer or deportation.

The impact of the government shutdown

Adding to the proven deficiencies at the detention centers is the partial shutdown of the federal government, prompted by the lack of agreement in Congress to extend the government’s budget.

Although the administration has assured that ICE operations will not be affected by the temporary suspension of officers, at least one team will not be working: the Office of Detention Oversight, according to The Washington Post. The officers assigned to this office are the ones who inspect detention centers to ensure they meet federal standards for the safe and humane treatment of migrants.

The Office of Detention Oversight is the only oversight group that has continued to routinely inspect ICE facilities since March, when the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) halted the work of two other oversight units that previously conducted inspections and investigated complaints.

The inadequacy of immigration detention centers is not new, and a DHS report from 2020 to 2023 pointed to this. “Our analysis indicates that regardless of time, location, detainee population, and facility type, ICE and facility staff have struggled to comply with aspects of detention standards. In turn, this hindered their ability to maintain a safe and secure environment for staff and detainees,” the report states.

According to ICE, the latest victim, Huabing Xie, suffered a seizure while at the Imperial Regional Detention Center in Calexico. CPR efforts were unsuccessful, and he was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. There is no explanation for his death.

“We have long known that Trump’s cruel deportation agenda would be bottomlined by an aggressive multi-layered detention expansion plan at all costs. However, the scope and scale, and more importantly, human toll, continues to be shocking. No one should suffer in these conditions and no family should have to bear this tragic loss,” said Marcela Hernández, Capacity Building Director at Detention Watch Network.

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