ICE ends 30-day death reporting rule as detainee deaths reach 20-year high - report

Lead

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has rescinded a policy requiring the agency to report deaths of individuals who die within 30 days of their release from custody, a move that comes as detainee deaths reach their highest level in two decades.

Acting Director David Venturella issued a memo directing ICE to return to reporting only deaths that occur while an individual is in agency custody. The change, first reported by the Washington Post, reverses a 2021 directive introduced under the Biden administration.

Policy change and context

The 2021 policy required ICE to report and investigate deaths of detainees within 30 days of their release, particularly those with serious health conditions. At the time, officials said the measure was designed to ensure the agency could not avoid accountability by releasing severely ill people from custody.

Deborah Fleischaker, who served as acting chief of staff during the Biden administration, told the Washington Post the policy was intended to make clear that "ICE should not release people simply to avoid deaths in custody."

In the memo, Venturella said ICE is "returning to the standard practice of reporting deaths that occur while an individual is in agency custody." A spokesperson told the Washington Post the new policy was "common sense" and that ICE remained "committed to transparency" but should not be responsible for monitoring cases "when an individual passes away weeks after leaving their custody."

The 2021 rule was implemented after a man who contracted COVID-19 following a stroke while detained at a California facility died three days after his release, according to reports.

Key claims

• ICE recorded 30 deaths in detention in 2025, its highest number in two decades, according to records cited by the Washington Post and confirmed by multiple outlets.
• Eighteen deaths have been reported in the first five months of 2026.
• A Reuters analysis of ICE data found the death rate in immigration facilities has more than doubled since January 2025, reaching about one death for every 1,630 detainees based on preliminary data through early June.
• Fifty people have died in US immigration detention since January 2025, according to ICE records analyzed by Reuters.
• Among those deaths, 21 were discovered after the detainee was already deceased or unresponsive, and heart attacks and cardiovascular issues accounted for 16 deaths.
• The data was obtained through a public records request and processed by the Vera Institute of Justice, a nonprofit that advocates for lower incarceration rates.

Broader concerns about medical care

The policy change comes amid scrutiny over the quality of healthcare in ICE facilities. Three experts in detention deaths who reviewed ICE records and autopsies for Reuters raised concerns about the quality of supervision and medical care in facilities that have seen their populations grow.

Reuters documented several fatal cases, including a Vietnamese man with cardiovascular problems who died at a repurposed Indiana prison, a Chinese man found hanging in a shower at a Pennsylvania center after a previous suicide attempt, and a Honduran man in New York who died in his cell without receiving emergency care for alcohol withdrawal symptoms.

The causes of detainee deaths can be complex and do not necessarily stem from neglect or abuse by detention-center administrators, according to the Reuters report.