ICE has stopped reporting deaths of detainees who die shortly after release, a change that critics say may obscure the full human cost of the Trump administration’s mass detention policies.
The move rescinds a 2021 policy that required the agency to report to Congress and investigate deaths that happen within 30 days of release.
The goal of that policy was to prevent ICE from avoiding accountability for deaths by releasing severely ill people. Detainees who were brain‑dead or suffering from infection have died soon after ICE released them in the past.
Two health experts who have studied ICE custody deaths criticized the change Friday.
“Tracking deaths immediately after custody is essential to identify gaps in care that may occur before a person leaves a facility,” said Dr. Homer Venters, former chief medical officer of the New‑York‑City jail system. “Eliminating reporting of these deaths is a willful act of ignoring serious health outcomes that can reflect inadequacies in care or help track outbreaks.”
ICE detainees also routinely die at hospitals where they are taken for treatment after conditions deteriorate within detention facilities, records show. Those deaths have generally been considered to occur while the detainee remains in ICE custody.
“Under this updated policy, when an individual is no longer in ICE custody, ICE will no longer be responsible for monitoring or reviewing deaths that may occur,” the statement said.
The agency said it remains committed to transparency and that the revised policy includes procedures for timely notification, review and reporting of deaths occurring in ICE custody. ICE did not immediately release the full updated policy.
The decision to limit death reporting comes amid a higher number of ICE detainee deaths. At least 18 detainees have died since Jan. 1, a pace that could surpass last year’s death toll, which was the highest in two decades. Detainees are dying by suicide at an unprecedented rate, and experts say other deaths from natural causes could have been prevented with timely medical care.
Dr. Sanjay Basu, an epidemiologist at the University of California‑San‑Francisco who recently published an analysis of more than 270 ICE custody deaths, said the policy change will “make the mortality statistics appear lower without any actual improvement in care.”
“The period immediately following release is when deaths attributable to inadequate care during confinement become apparent,” he explained. “Missed diagnoses, interrupted medications, untreated infections, and decompensating chronic conditions don’t always kill someone while they’re still in the building.”
As of early April, ICE was holding more than 60,000 detainees across its national network of detention facilities, up from about 40,000 at the start of President Donald Trump’s second term. ICE denies allegations that detainees suffer from medical neglect, saying they receive comprehensive health care services.
Before announcing Thursday’s policy change, DHS acting assistant secretary Lauren Bis told the AP on Tuesday that no detainees died in its custody in May. That was the first month without a detainee death since November. At the time, Bis did not address whether any death‑reporting policies had changed.
“As we have repeatedly stated, deaths in ICE custody are exceedingly rare,” she said then.
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