As ICE Detention Expands, Deaths Reach a 22-Year High

More than 30 people have died in ICE detention since October, a fatality rate that reached a 22-year high in the opening months of the fiscal year. The rate climbed from 13 deaths per 100,000 person-years in FY2023 to 47.5 the following year, then spiked to 88.9 in the first three and a half months of the current fiscal year — against a detained population that grew from about 40,000 before the second Trump term to more than 68,000 in February. Only three people died in ICE custody in all of FY2022.