U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said it recorded at least 14 deaths of people in its custody between January 2026 and late March 2026. That total follows 31 deaths in 2025, which ICE said was a two-decade high. The cases span detention centers and hospitals in multiple states and involve detainees from a range of nationalities and ages. In several instances ICE described medical responses and emergency transfers to local hospitals; in other cases the agency said incidents were under investigation or were presumed suicides.
Overview
ICE released individual accounts of each death, including the date, the facility or hospital where the person died, nationality and, where provided, age. The agency described the immediate circumstances surrounding each case, noting medical interventions when they occurred and indicating which incidents remain under investigation. Several families and local officials provided alternative or additional perspectives in some cases, and the Department of Homeland Security issued statements referring back to ICE public releases.
Details on the 14 deaths reported
- Jose Guadalupe Ramos - Died March 25 at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center in Los Angeles; nationality: Mexican. ICE said security staff found Ramos unconscious and unresponsive in his bunk. On-site medical personnel were called and he was transferred to an area hospital, where he was declared dead, according to the agency.
- Royer Perez Jimenez - Died March 16 at the Glades County Detention Center in Moore Haven, Florida; nationality: Mexican; age: 19. ICE said his death was a presumed suicide and that the official cause of death remained under investigation after he was discovered unresponsive in the early hours. Detention staff tried unsuccessfully to resuscitate him for nearly 10 minutes, ICE reported.
- Mohommad Nazeer Paktyawal - Died March 14 at Parkland Hospital in Dallas, Texas; nationality: Afghan; age: 41. ICE said Paktyawal, an Afghan who previously worked with the U.S. military in Afghanistan and later sought asylum in the United States, died less than 24 hours after being detained in Texas, a U.S. veteran-led advocacy group stated. According to ICE, he was eating breakfast when medical staff noticed his tongue had become swollen, prompting a medical response. ICE said he was declared dead after multiple resuscitation attempts.
- Emanuel Cleeford Damas - Died March 2 at a hospital in Scottsdale, Arizona; nationality: Haitian. ICE said Damas was taken into custody after an arrest on assault and battery charges in September 2025 in Boston and was later transferred to the Florence Detention Center in Arizona. The agency said he reported shortness of breath on February 19, was sent to a local hospital, and then transferred to a Phoenix hospital where he was placed in an intensive care unit and intubated on a ventilator the following day. ICE said he died on March 2 and that the cause was unknown. In an interview, his brother told the Associated Press that Damas had died due to an untreated toothache and related infection. The Department of Homeland Security referred requests for comment to ICE’s public statement, which did not mention dental issues.
- Pejman Karshenas Najafabadi - Died March 1 at a hospital in Natchez, Mississippi; nationality: Iranian; age: 59. ICE said Karshenas was taken into custody in April 2025 after a conviction for fentanyl possession and had several chronic health conditions. He remained detained and was transferred in October 2025 to the Louisiana ICE Processing Center in Angola, a facility the agency said was opened under the Trump administration. On February 20, 2026, ICE health staff evaluated him again and he was transferred to a hospital for long-term care. According to ICE, he went into cardiac arrest on March 1 and was pronounced dead at Merit Health Hospital in Natchez.
- Alberto Gutierrez Reyes - Died February 27 at Victor Valley Global Medical Center in Victorville, California; nationality: Mexican; age: 48. ICE said Gutierrez was arrested by U.S. Border Patrol agents in Los Angeles in January and reported feeling faint on February 25. He was admitted to the medical center for chest pain and shortness of breath, and ICE reported that he became unresponsive and died on February 27. Los Angeles City Council member Eunisses Hernandez said her office had been in touch with his family and alleged he had been denied medical care while in ICE custody. The Department of Homeland Security responded to inquiries by saying comprehensive medical care is provided to everyone in ICE detention.
- Jairo Garcia Hernandez - Died February 16 at a hospital in Miami; nationality: Guatemalan; age: 27. ICE said it took Garcia into custody after local police encountered him near Rochester, New York, on January 21, 2025. The agency said he was immunocompromised and already in ill health when detained. On February 16, 2026, more than a year after his arrest, ICE said he collapsed unexpectedly and died.
- Lorth Sim - Died February 16 at the Miami Correctional Facility in Miami County, Indiana; nationality: Cambodian; age: 59. ICE said Sim entered the United States as a refugee in 1983 but had been ordered deported following several convictions. He was detained after arriving at an ICE office in Boston on December 30, 2025, and was then transferred to the Indiana detention center. ICE staff found Sim unresponsive in his cell on February 16 and he was pronounced dead by staff and emergency personnel, with the incident under investigation, the agency said.
- Victor Manuel Diaz - Died January 14 at Camp East Montana in El Paso, Texas; nationality: Nicaraguan; age: 36. Staff at the detention center, located on the grounds of Fort Bliss, found Diaz unconscious and unresponsive in his room on January 14 and he was pronounced dead shortly thereafter, ICE reported. The agency said the incident was under investigation and that the death was a presumed suicide.
- Heber Sanchaz Domínguez - Died January 14 at the Robert A. Deyton Detention Center in Lovejoy, Georgia; nationality: Mexican; age: 34. ICE said Domínguez was detained after being arrested in Georgia for driving without a license. The agency said he was found "hanging by the neck and unresponsive in his sleeping quarters" and was later pronounced dead at an area hospital. ICE said the incident is under investigation.
- Parady La - Died January 9 at a hospital in Philadelphia; nationality: Cambodian; age: 46. ICE said La was detained at the Federal Detention Center in Philadelphia after a January 6 arrest and was being treated for "severe drug withdrawal" when found unresponsive in his cell. He was transferred to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, where ICE said he was diagnosed with brain and organ failure and declared deceased on January 9.
- Luis Beltran Yanez-Cruz - Died January 6 at a hospital in Indio, California; nationality: Honduran; age: 68. ICE said Beltran was arrested by federal immigration officers in Newark, New Jersey, in November and was later moved to the Imperial Regional Detention Facility in Calexico, California. On January 4, he complained of chest pain and was transferred to a hospital, where he died two days later, according to ICE.
- Luis Gustavo Nunez Caceres - Died January 5 at a Houston-area hospital; nationality: Honduran; age: 42. ICE said Nunez was arrested during an immigration operation in Houston on November 17, 2025, and later taken to the Joe Corley Processing Center in Conroe, Texas. He was transferred to HCA Houston Healthcare in Conroe on December 23, 2025, for an exacerbation of congestive heart failure. ICE said he experienced multiple life-threatening medical emergencies and was pronounced dead on January 5.
- Geraldo Lunas Campos - Died January 3 at Camp East Montana detention center in El Paso, Texas; nationality: Cuban; age: 55. ICE said Lunas died on January 3 at Camp East Montana, a detention facility on the grounds of Fort Bliss that the agency said had been opened under the Trump administration. ICE initially described the event as a medical distress incident under investigation. Later that month, The Washington Post reported that the local coroner would likely rule the death a homicide and that a detainee at the Camp East Montana site told the newspaper he saw guards choking Lunas when Lunas refused to enter solitary confinement. Following the report, the Department of Homeland Security issued a statement saying Lunas attempted to take his own life while detained at the site. DHS said security staff immediately intervened to save his life but that Lunas violently resisted them.
Contextual notes and responses
ICE provided the sequence of events and medical timelines for each death in its public statements, noting where incidents remained under investigation and where resuscitation or hospital transfers occurred. Family members, local elected officials and advocacy groups contributed additional accounts in certain cases, citing concerns about medical care and the conditions of detention. Federal authorities, including the Department of Homeland Security, responded to requests for comment by referencing ICE statements and, in at least one case, issuing an additional statement describing the department's account of events.
What remains under investigation
ICE characterized several deaths as under investigation and described others as presumed suicides. In some instances family members provided differing explanations of the circumstances surrounding the death, which federal authorities did not corroborate in their public statements. ICE noted specific medical conditions, prior arrests or convictions, and the locations and dates of transfers and hospitalizations in its accounts.
Implications for detention operations and medical care
The fatalities span a variety of facilities, including ICE processing centers, county detention centers and hospital settings. ICE described medical interventions in numerous cases, from on-site resuscitation attempts to transfers to intensive care units. Local officials and family members raised concerns in some cases about access to or the adequacy of medical care while detainees were in custody, while the Department of Homeland Security reiterated that comprehensive medical care is provided to everyone in ICE detention, according to ICE and DHS statements.
Note on reporting - The agency-provided accounts above reflect the information ICE released publicly about each death, including dates, locations, nationalities and the circumstances ICE reported. Some family members, local elected officials and media outlets provided additional or differing accounts in certain cases, which are noted where applicable.