ICE detention deaths nearly double as federal oversight offices are gutted
Sep 30, 2026

Thirty-seven people have died in ICE custody since last fall, the deadliest fiscal year on record, as the agency's detention population exceeded 60,000 at any given time and facilities became overcrowded. The Trump administration slashed staff at DHS's Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties from more than 100 employees to fewer than five and shuttered the Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman, leaving the Office of Inspector General as the sole remaining oversight body, though Congress allocated it $20 million in new funding. Recent OIG inspections found compliance failures, including improper use-of-force practices and inadequate medical staffing, at the Krome North Service Processing Center, the "Alligator Alcatraz" facility in Florida, and the Cibola County Correctional Center in New Mexico.
Sources
Related incidents
- Burundi agrees to accept US third-country deportees from other nationsSep 30, 2026
- California bans police use of electric-shock gloves ICE planned to equip agents withSep 29, 2026
- Supreme Court lets Trump resume deporting migrants to third countriesSep 29, 2026 · Washington, DC
- Supreme Court weighs third time whether to allow fast-track third-country deportationsSep 27, 2026
- Senators propose bill to curb warrantless ICE arrests, indefinite detentionSep 25, 2026
- Detainees packed into overcrowded NYC ICE facility, judge orders permanent injunctionSep 24, 2026 · New York, NY