According to NBC News, physicians are raising concerns after new research found the death rate in immigration detention has reached a 22-year high, with experts pointing to longstanding failures in care that they say have intensified under policies of the Trump administration. The research found systemic weaknesses in medical treatment, mental health protections and oversight inside ICE custody.
The research was published Thursday in the medical journal JAMA. It examined the mortality rate of detainees in ICE custody from fiscal year 2004 to Jan. 19, 2026. The researchers found a total of 18 deaths from October 2025 to January 2026, at an annualized death rate of 88.9 people per 100,000. Ten additional people have died in ICE custody this year since then.
The authors state the information about ICE deaths was obtained through a Freedom of Information Act release for fiscal years 2004 through 2017 through ICE’s Detainee Death Reporting page. For fiscal years 2018 through 2025, it was through ICE’s death reporting postings and announcements.
The rate of deaths in ICE custody decreased until 2020, when there was a spike during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. It dropped dramatically after that before increasing since 2024.
As immigrant deaths in custody rise, ICE has decreased the information it releases to the public. The Department of Homeland Security told NBC News there “has been no spikes in deaths” under the Trump administration, claiming it has been “consistent with data over the last decade.”
DHS claims ICE has maintained a higher standard of care than most U.S. prisons, with access to food, medical treatment and communication with loved ones.
Physicians Michele Heisler and Katherine R. Peeler wrote in an editorial that these findings “suggest not isolated lapses but systemic weaknesses in medical care, mental health protection, and mortality review in a population wholly dependent on the state.” They note that 2026 was the highest, even higher than the COVID-19 spike.
They note that it is no coincidence that the recent spike has taken place under Trump administration policies. These developments cannot establish causation, but the Trump administration makes it difficult to view the recent increase in deaths as a clinical problem rather than the detention system being placed under constraint.
Heisler and Peeler, Physicians for Human Rights at the University of Michigan and Harvard Medical School, respectively, wrote that during the second Trump administration, ICE has been detaining a “far broader population” as the southern border is largely closed.
Additionally, immigration authorities target “long-term U.S. residents who may have complex medical histories and untreated chronic conditions.” It is likely that these individuals present conditions that decline quickly without consistent care.
Peeler told NBC News that she was struck by how research “skyrocketed in the last year and a half,” especially since we’re only in mid-April.
In addressing the most recent death in ICE custody, Alejandro Cabrera Clemente, a 49-year-old Mexican national, ICE said it was “committed to ensuring that all those in custody reside in safe, secure and humane environments.”
ICE claims that all people in custody “receive medical, dental and mental health intake screenings” as well as “access to medical appointments; and 24-hour emergency care.”
The JAMA report found that from fiscal year 2004 through Jan. 19, the median age of people who died was 45 and more than 90% were male. Heisler and Peeler wrote that this median age reflects the prematurity of deaths in custody.
They were additionally concerned that research showed that only 13% of deaths occurred in hospitals or medical facilities, suggesting that detained individuals likely did not receive a higher level of care in time. They note that nearly 49% of deaths were listed as “undetermined or unclassified,” proving an accountability issue.
Heisler and Peeler called on Congress to restore and fully staff DHS oversight, as the Trump administration significantly cut back or closed oversight offices such as the Office of the Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman.
They conclude the failure of the Trump administration has provided “conditions likely to increase mortality risk.”
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