Deaths in Custody: Georgia Senators Demand Answers on Spike in Migrant Deaths
An immigrant detention center located in McAllen, Texas. Source: Center for Border Protection.
On September 23, Democratic Georgia Senators Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, requesting more information about a recent surge in deaths at immigrant detention centers across the United States. Ossoff and Warnock also asked the Department to include a report on the subpar living conditions within these centers. The Senators gave Homeland Security until October 31 to respond to their inquiries.
Since President Trump took office in January, 15 migrants have died in detention centers, with 10 deaths occurring between January and June alone. This marks a dramatic spike and represents the highest six-month fatality rate on record, based on publicly available data. By comparison, the Obama administration never saw more than 12 deaths in a single year, and during the Biden administration, the death rate declined significantly, with only six deaths reported in fiscal year 2023.
These differences reflect broader shifts in immigration policy. Trump’s increasingly aggressive policies have expanded the use of detention and restricted alternatives such as parole or community monitoring in an attempt to increase deportations. In contrast, the Biden Administration sought to increase the use of alternatives to detention, and phase out contracts with problematic private facilities. These structural differences have a direct impact on the level of oversight and support that detained migrants receive.
As of August 24, approximately 61,226 individuals are being held in immigration detention centers across the United States, a record high. This surge is largely attributed to the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration policies, which have led to a significant rise in arrests and detentions. Furthermore, the Supreme Court’s decision in Noem v. Vasquez Perdomo has granted ICE broader authority to conduct immigration patrols based on racial identifiers, including skin color, physical appearance, and accents. This ruling is expected to further increase the number of arrests, intensifying problems of overcrowding and systemic neglect, both of which contribute to the rising number of deaths in detention centers.
The Department of Homeland Security is rushing to expand detention space and increase arrests after Congress provided $45 billion for the construction of new immigration centers, a 265% annual budget increase to ICE’s current detention budget. This expansion of funding could result in the detention of at least 116,000 non-citizens, potentially leading to an increase in reports of overcrowding, unsanitary conditions, and issues with food and healthcare access in current detention centers.
Persistent deficiencies in medical care may contribute to preventable deaths and serious illnesses among detainees. An ACLU study from 2017 to 2021 finds that 95% of deaths in ICE detentions centers were, in fact, preventable. This percentage was partially attributed to medical staff making incorrect or incomplete diagnoses in 88% of deaths, and also providing incomplete, inappropriate, or delayed treatment and medication. Abelardo Avellaneda-Delgado, a 68-year-old Mexican citizen, died in ICE custody this May despite reports indicating no known preexisting health conditions. ICE has also publicly confirmed in June that Jesus Molina-Veya, a 45-year-old Mexican citizen in custody at the Stewart detention facility in Atlanta committed suicide. This marks the thirteenth death, and the third death by suicide, at Stewart since ICE began holding immigrants in the facility in 2006.
In fact, in some facilities, more than half of the detainees screened positive for more than one mental disorder, and a 22% rate of self-harm was reported, including attempted suicide. The longer these migrants are held in poor conditions, the more dangerous their mental states can become. A 2025 study found that those detained for six months or more had significantly higher rates of depression and PTSD than those held for shorter periods. By continuing to provide subpar living conditions and neglecting the mental health of detained migrants, lives are continuously being put at risk.
Aside from the numerous allegations of medical neglect and civil liberties violations, including barriers to legal representation and reports of forced labor, sexual abuse also remains a significant and persistent issue in immigration detention. In a study of 129 ICE detention facilities conducted over 43 months from September 2018 to April 2022, there were 922 allegations of sexual assault filed with facility administrators. Notably, approximately one-third of these allegations involved the facility staff.
Another concern raised by Senators Ossoff and Warnock is ICE’s apparent failure to follow its own regulations regarding the reporting of detainee deaths. This lack of compliance, they argue, “hinders Congressional oversight efforts and leaves families in the dark about their loved ones’ fates.” The senators point out that ICE’s own guidance requires the agency to post an interim notice of any detainee death on its website within 48 hours. However, ICE reportedly failed to meet this requirement in 9 out of the 15 recent cases.
In recent years, DHS’s Office of the Inspector General and other oversight bodies have flagged ICE for failures in reporting and compliance with detention standards. In 2024, a report titled “Deadly Failures”, authored by several watchdog groups including the ACLU, found that many deaths between 2017 to 2021 occurred after medical delays or outright denials of care, and that ICE routinely failed to implement corrective measures following previous death investigations. Additionally, ICE’s detainee death investigations have involved the destruction of evidence, and medical staff were deemed to have falsified or made insufficient documentation in 61% of detainee death cases.
Both ICE’s failure to enforce its own regulations and the Department of Homeland Security’s lack of oversight raise serious concerns about how immigrants will continue to be treated in U.S. custody. It is now up to Homeland Security and the Trump administration to reevaluate current immigration practices and ensure that basic human rights are restored to the system.