US immigration custody death rate at decade high: rights groups
The rate of people dying in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody has reached its highest level in over a decade amid U.S. President Donald Trump's crackdown on immigrants, rights groups said on June 25.
At least 52 deaths have been reported in ICE holding facilities since Trump's second term began in January 2025, according to a joint report by Human Rights Watch and Physicians for Human Rights.
Trump has made combating illegal immigration a top priority of his second term, with authorities rounding up thousands of people and expanding detention centers.
From January 2025 to January 2026, the annual mortality rate in ICE custody was up 140 percent compared to a year earlier — an increase disproportionate to the higher detainee population, the report said.
