List of deaths in ICE detention
This is a chronological list of deaths in United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention. It is based mainly on US federal government records which are in the public domain. The DHS Appropriations Bill requires ICE to make public all reports regarding in custody deaths within 90 days. Some deaths are also documented in the media.
2025 had the highest number of deaths since 2004, and December 2025 was the deadliest month on record.
Some commentators have expressed concerns about the truthfulness of reporting, or that information is being concealed by taking steps to avoid the necessity of reporting, for example:
During the second presidency of Donald Trump, ICE started to release details of detainee deaths in narrative style at their newsroom, within two business days. Instead of the standard titles used in detainee death reports for example "Detainee Death Report: AVELLENEDA-Delgado, Abelardo" these reports use titles such as "Illegal alien in ICE custody passes away at California hospital" or "Career criminal, illegal alien in ICE custody passes away at local hospital", and are in a less detailed and more narrative style using the euphemism "passes away" rather than referring to death. As a technical matter, the federal government is incapable of dealing with diacritics, which are stripped from names appearing in government records.
2026
, six deaths in ICE detention have been disclosed.| Date | Location | Name | Age | Nationality | ICE disclosure | Description | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Robert A Deyton Detention Facility, Lovejoy, Georgia | Heber Sanchaz Domínguez | 34 |  MexicoISO date|2026-01-14nowrap| Nicaragua2025In 2025, 31 deaths in ICE detention were reported. This does not include Jaime Alanis Garcia, who died trying to flee agents at a farm raid in Camarillo on July 10, nor does it include Jose Castro-Rivera, who died on a highway in Norfolk, Virginia, on October 23 as he fled ICE officers. It also does not include those who died in Border Patrol custody, including a Chinese national who died by suicide at a station in Yuma, Arizona. A January 2026 letter from 12 Congressional representatives stated that 17 deaths in Border Patrol custody were reported to Congress during the first twelve months of the Trump administration.
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BulgariaISO date|2025-12-18ISO date|2025-12-14
GuyanaISO date|2024-11-01
CameroonISO date|2023-12-04
VenezuelaISO date|2021-08-03
FranceISO date|2019-12-21
RussiaISO date|2018-11-18
Iran
Guatemala