Nine Migrants Have Died Under ICE Custody This Year, Agency Acting Director Confirms

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) acting director Todd Lyons confirmed that nine people have died in the agency's custody since President Donald Trump took office. The acknowledgement comes as immigration rights advocates say the Trump administration is violating human rights in its efforts to carry out mass deportations.

Lyons confirmed the number of deaths during a congressional hearing after Democrats on the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Department of Homeland Security pressed Lyons over conditions in ICE detention centers, according to Noticias Telemundo.

"We do conduct a thorough investigation on all of those," Lyons said, adding, "ICE, as I've said, is dedicated to transparency."

The agency has only publicly disclosed information on seven deaths for this fiscal year on its page tracking detainee deaths. The most recent one was the April 8 passing of Brayan Rayo-Garzon, a Colombian who reportedly died by suicide after a scheduled mental health evaluation was delayed multiple times, The Independent reports.

During the hearing, Lyons was particularly criticized by Democratic Rep. Veronica Escobar, who argued that the Trump administration's continued use of private detentions presented concerns over human rights, and accused ICE of targeting individuals with legal status, including those with student visas and green cards.

"I'd characterize what happens inside (these facilities) as tantamount to human rights abuses," she said, citing overcrowding, medical negligence, and a lack of necessities.

Rep. Lauren Underwood (D-Ill.), the top Democrat in the Subcommittee, also criticized ICE for allegedly spending money it doesn't have and not meeting its goals of mass deportations, which she defined as unrealistic. She said that deporting 1 million migrants a year is "an incredibly risky strategy that is doomed to failure" and stated that "this Administration is cashing checks it doesn't have to achieve questionable goals it can't meet."

Democrats say ICE was slow in reporting the deaths, which are already nearing the worst full-year total under the Biden administration, when 12 people died in custody in fiscal year 2024, according to an analysis from Prism Reports.

The deaths come as Republicans push for a 365% increase in detention funds as part of the president's larger budget goal to increase Homeland Security spending by $43.8 billion. Escobar said that increased detention spending would benefit the private detention companies the administration has used to detain migrants, yet it does not improve conditions for the detainees.

"The increase in costs to taxpayers obviously hasn't translated into an increase in humane conditions, but it has meant an increase in profits for these private companies," the Texas Democrat said. "That's what American tax dollars have been funding."

The deaths' confirmations come as Democrats put under scrutiny the conditions migrants face in detention centers. Just last week, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was arrested during a protest against the opening of a migrant detention center in his city.

Witnesses said the arrest last week came after Baraka attempted to join three members of New Jersey's congressional delegation, Reps. Robert Menendez, LaMonica McIver, and Bonnie Watson Coleman, in attempting to enter the facility. He is set to appear in federal court Thursday for a status conference over charges of trespassing the detention center, ABC 7 NY reports.