A Vietnamese man with cardiovascular problems collapsed and died in the “Speedway Slammer”, the repurposed Indiana maximum-security prison that’s become a symbol of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown . In a Pennsylvania detention center, a Chinese man who had previously attempted suicide was found hanging in the shower. In a New York facility, a Honduran man with an elevated heart rate and tremors from alcohol withdrawal died in his cell with no emergency care.
These men are among 50 people who have died in US immigration detention since President Donald Trump launched his mass deportation campaign in January 2025, Immigration and Customs Enforcement records show.
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02:10
Between 2009 and 2024, US immigration facilities had one death annually for every 3,848 detainees, based on the facilities’ average daily population, a Reuters analysis of ICE data found. That rate has more than doubled since Trump returned to office, reaching about one death for every 1,630 people based on preliminary data through early June.
The data analysed by Reuters was obtained by the Deportation Data Project through a public records request and processed by the Vera Institute of Justice, a nonprofit organisation that advocates for lower incarceration rates.
The causes of detainee deaths can be complex and do not necessarily stem from neglect or abuse by detention-centre administrators. But three experts in detention deaths who reviewed ICE records and autopsies for Reuters said the rising rate and other data points raised concerns about the quality of supervision and medical care in detention centres that have seen their populations balloon under Trump.
The population rose in the last year of Democrat Joe Biden 's administration, which stepped up enforcement amid election-year criticism. ICE held about 40,000 immigrants when Trump took office, up from a Biden-era low of about 14,000 in February 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Under Trump, the number shot up to about 70,000 at its January peak, during a major crackdown in Minneapolis , before falling back to about 57,000 as of early June.
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Twenty-one of the 50 deaths were discovered after the detainee was deceased or unresponsive, ICE records show. These cases, which included 10 suicides, are especially concerning, because they could reflect a lack of physical- and mental-health oversight and timely care, said Sanjay Basu, an associate physician at the University of California , San Francisco, who has studied ICE detention deaths, one of the three experts who reviewed the data and records for Reuters.
Heart attacks and cardiovascular issues accounted for 16 deaths, which the medical experts said suggested potential problems with initial health screenings and chronic-disease management.
Chanelle Diaz, an assistant professor of medicine at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center, said the data and records show the agency is choosing to imprison medically vulnerable people, resulting in a “spike in preventable deaths”.
“The system is not designed for chronic-care management,” Diaz said, noting that at least two detainees who died had dementia and posed no risk to the public.
The Department of Homeland Security did not provide detailed records of the Trump-era deaths reviewed by Reuters. The agency said that it was committed to ensuring a “safe, secure and humane” environment in detention.
“Comprehensive medical care is provided from the moment individuals arrive and throughout the entirety of their stay,” DHS spokesperson Lauren Bis said in a statement to Reuters.
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Questions on timely medical care
Part of the difficulty in determining the factors driving the death rate stems from the scant detail in the Trump administration detention-death reports reviewed by Reuters and the three experts.
The administration’s reports contain less detail on the circumstances surrounding each death than previously. Many omitted critical information such as the detainee’s medical history, medications and emergency-response details, the experts said.
Michele Heisler, medical director at nonprofit Physicians for Human Rights, singled out the ICE death report on Santos Reyes Banegas, a Honduran man who died in the Nassau County Correctional Center on Long Island, New York, last September.
ICE said in the report that during intake at 11:22am on September 17, 2025, a nurse noted symptoms of alcohol withdrawal. Two hours later, a doctor who evaluated him said he was experiencing tremors and prescribed medications f…
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