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In 2025, 32 people died in the custody of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). That figure was the largest in more than two decades and tied for the highest number of deaths among ICE’s detainee population ever.
2026 is only three weeks old, and it’s already shaping up to be much worse. In just 21 days, at least six people have died in ICE custody.
Last year, ICE did not have six in-custody deaths until April 25. The early trends put ICE on pace for 120 in-custody deaths in 2026.
Several of the deaths, according to family members and advocates, are related to substandard medical care. Popular Information reported on Monday that ICE stopped paying for third-party medical treatment for detainees on October 3, 2025. As a result, according to an administration source, numerous detainees are either being turned away by providers or denied access to care.
Other deaths are allegedly suicides. These deaths could also be a function of inadequate mental health care or supervision of detainees. The detained population in ICE facilities has exploded from less than 40,000 in January 2025 to over 73,000 today.
Geraldo Lunas Campos
On January 3, Geraldo Lunas Campos, a 55-year-old from Cuba, died at the Camp East Montana detention facility on Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas. Lunas Campos was “legally admitted to the U.S. in 1996.” In 2005, an immigration judge ordered his removal. Initially, ICE said in a January 9 press release that Lunas Campos died after “experiencing medical distress” and that it was investigating his death. According to ICE, Lunas Campos had been placed in “segregation” after he “became disruptive while in line for medication and refused to return to his assigned dorm.” ICE stated that medical staff attempted to initiate lifesaving measures after staff observed him in distress.
Last week, however, the Washington Post reported that Lunas Campos’ daughter was told by an employee of El Paso County’s Office of the Medical Examiner that it was “likely to classify the death as a homicide,” pending the results of a toxicology report. The Post reported that the employee said that a doctor was “listing the preliminary cause of death as asphyxia due to neck and chest compression.”
According to the Post, Lunas Campos “died following a struggle with detention staff.” A detainee who was an eyewitness said that “he saw at least five guards struggling with Lunas Campos after he refused to enter the segregation unit, complaining that he didn’t have his medications.” The detainee said that “he saw guards choking Lunas Campos” and that he could be heard repeatedly stating, “No puedo respirar,” which is Spanish for “I can’t breathe.”
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) told the Post in a new statement that Lunas Campos had “attempt[ed] to take his own life.” DHS said that Lunas Campos “violently resisted the security staff” and “stopped breathing and lost consciousness” during the struggle, and that medical staff made repeated attempts to resuscitate him.
Luis Gustavo Nunez Caceres
On January 5, Luis Gustavo Nunez Caceres passed away at a hospital in Texas. Nunez, who was 42 years old and from Honduras, was arrested by ICE on November 17. On November 25, Nunez was brought to the Joe Corley Processing Center in Conroe, Texas. According to ICE, Nunez was transported to the hospital on December 23 “for complications related to congenital heart failure.” On December 31, Nunez suffered from “multiple life-threatening medical emergencies” and was admitted into the intensive care unit. It is not clear how long Nunez had been in the U.S.
Luis Beltran Yanez-Cruz
Luis Beltran Yanez-Cruz, 68, died in ICE custody on January 6. He had immigrated from Honduras, living in the U.S. for 26 years and working in construction before he was arrested by ICE on November 16 in Newark, New Jersey.
After his arrest, Yanez-Cruz was sent to a detention facility in Calexico, California, where he soon began experiencing stomach and chest pain, according to his daughter and a family friend. Yanez-Cruz’s daughter said he told her he reported pain and shortness of breath to facility staff, but was only given some pills. According to the family friend, Yanez-Cruz had not experienced these symptoms before entering ICE custody.
Yanez-Cruz was transferred to the medical unit of the Calexico ICE detention facility on January 4, and then moved to John F. Kennedy Memorial Hospital in Indio, California, where he died from “heart-related health issues” according to ICE.
His daughter has raised questions about why ICE allowed her father’s symptoms to go untreated for so long. “He started having symptoms weeks ago; they could have done something,” she said.
Parady La
Parady La, a 46-year-old immigrant from Cambodia, died in ICE custody in Philadelphia on January 9 after experiencing “severe drug withdrawal.”