In letter to Noem and Lyons, Senate Democrats cite 30+ deaths since the start of the Trump Administration with concern over continued expansion of immigration detention
February 18, 2026 - WASHINGTON, D.C. — On Tuesday, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Ranking Member of the 
Senate Judiciary Immigration Subcommittee, joined U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and 20 other Senate Democrats in sounding the alarm on the dramatic increase in deaths in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention, with over 30 deaths since the start of the Trump Administration. In a letter to Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and ICE senior official Todd Lyons, the Senators condemned the deaths of six people in ICE custody so far this year, after seven people died last December alone.
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The letter comes after Padilla and Senator Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) conducted an oversight visit last month to the largest detention center in California, located in California City, to learn firsthand of the concerns surrounding the inhumane conditions detained individuals are facing at the private, for-profit facility. The Senators investigated reports of unsanitary and unsafe facility conditions, inadequate medical and mental health care, insufficient access to legal counsel, a severe lack of accommodations for people with disabilities, and the unnecessary use of solitary confinement. Last week, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction ordering ICE to provide adequate health care and access to counsel to people detained at the facility.
“This rapidly increasing number of deaths is a clear byproduct of the Trump Administration’s dangerous and poorly executed mass deportation agenda—one focused on detaining as many immigrants as possible, not just the ‘worst of the worst,’ for extended periods of time. We urge you to use the unprecedented resources at your disposal to reinvigorate your agency’s detention oversight efforts, investigate these deaths, and provide those in your custody with adequate medical care,” wrote the Senators.
“Though deaths in detention have occurred under every Administration, under your leadership, individuals are dying in shocking numbers. Rather than accepting responsibility for deaths in government custody and providing detailed facts about the circumstances of each death, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has attempted to smear deceased individuals’ reputations by emphasizing details about their immigration status and their alleged wrongdoing in the United States,” continued the Senators.
The Senators cited harrowing incidents of death in detention, including guards choking a man to death, an apparent suicide, and others. They highlighted that ICE has used its unprecedented funding surge from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act to significantly expand its detention capacity. They are now holding over 67,000 people across the country after hitting a historic high of approximately 73,000 — many of whom have no criminal history. Recently, the Administration partnered with private companies to drastically scale up its detention capacity, including at industrial facilities where they want to cram up to 8,000 individuals — double the capacity of the largest federal prison. One such facility near Phoenix is seven times the size of a football field and costs $70 million. ICE is also reopening centers that were previously shuttered due to chronic staffing shortages and medical issues.
The Senators cited repeated false claims by the Administration that ICE provides adequate detention conditions and medical care. They pointed to the agency’s failure to pay third-party medical providers for months, continued contracting with medical service providers known for substandard care, and internal audits documenting violations of detention standards. They also referenced deaths of individuals with treatable diseases, interference by immigration agents in medical treatment, and an analysis of 911 calls demonstrating the system is overwhelmed by unmet medical needs and urgent care requests.
“At a time when record numbers of people are dying in ICE custody, it is unacceptable that the agency continues to restrict congressional oversight of detention facilities, including by unlawfully requiring Members of Congress to alert ICE seven days prior to detention visits, a policy recently blocked by a federal court, and failing to provide mandated reporting with details about the deaths,” concluded the Senators. “Each death in ICE custody is a tragedy and, based on the evidence available from agency records, 911 calls, and medical experts, many could have been prevented if not for this Administration’s decisions.”
In addition to Padilla and Durbin, the letter is also signed by U.S. Senators Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).
Senator Padilla has strongly opposed President Trump’s cruel and indiscriminate mass deportation agenda and denial of basic services for detained individuals. In January, Padilla joined Senator Booker in introducing the Dignity for Detained Immigrants Act to end the use of private, for-profit detention facilities, prohibit the practice of detaining families, and ensure due process for detained individuals. Last year, Padilla cosponsored the Restoring Access to Detainees Act, a bill to ensure the Department of Homeland Security allows detained noncitizens to contact legal counsel and their families.
Full text of the letter is available here and below:
Dear Secretary Noem and Mr. Lyons:
Even as the country reels from the senseless deaths of Americans killed or grievously injured by federal agents in Minneapolis, Chicago, and Los Angeles, we have also been shocked to see the dramatic increase in deaths in immigration detention on your watch. Seven people died in the month of December 2025 alone, and six have died since the start of the new year. This rapidly increasing number of deaths is a clear byproduct of the Trump Administration’s dangerous and poorly executed mass deportation agenda—one focused on detaining as many immigrants as possible, not just the “worst of the worst,” for extended periods of time. We urge you to use the unprecedented resources at your disposal to reinvigorate your agency’s detention oversight efforts, investigate these deaths, and provide those in your custody with adequate medical care.
According to the autopsy report, a recent death in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention was officially ruled a homicide, and fellow detainees, whom the Department seeks to deport, described witnessing guards choking the man to death. Another person died of an apparent suicide at the same facility only days later. In 2025, ICE reported 32 deaths, the most deaths in ICE detention in any year since 2004. Based on the available evidence, many of the reported deaths appear to have been preventable.
Armed with an unprecedented and unjustified funding increase from the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act, ICE has dramatically expanded its detention capacity and now is holding approximately 73,000 people nationwide—many with no criminal history—while failing to release even the most vulnerable individuals. The Administration recently doubled down on its commitment to scale up detention, soliciting private companies to warehouse staggering numbers of immigrants in massive industrial facilities capable of housing up to 8,000 people at once. By comparison, the largest federal prison has approximately 4,000 inmates. New massive facilities —one near Phoenix cost $70 million and is the size of seven football fields—add to the rapidly expanding number of detention contracts held by private prison companies and local and county jails. ICE is even reopening facilities that previously were closed due to medical neglect and systemic understaffing.
Individuals of all ages and backgrounds have died in ICE custody, some only a short time after entering a detention facility and many after living in the United States for decades. Though deaths in detention have occurred under every Administration, under your leadership, individuals are dying in shocking numbers. Rather than accepting responsibility for deaths in government custody and providing detailed facts about the circumstances of each death, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has attempted to smear deceased individuals’ reputations by emphasizing details about their immigration status and their alleged wrongdoing in the United States.
The Administration also repeatedly has alleged, contrary to all evidence, that ICE detention conditions and medical care are adequate. These false claims have been made despite the fact that ICE has not paid third-party medical providers since October 2025, allegedly leading to the denial of medical care and essential treatment.1Even ICE internal audits have documented significant failures to meet medical care standards. At Camp East Montana— where three detained individuals recently died in just over one month—ICE auditors determined medical care contractors had, in some cases, failed to fill out medical charts and do intake screenings and did not “identify emergent or past chronic medical conditions, mental illness issues such as suicidal/homicidal ideation or intent that could lead to detainee life-safety issue.”
All available evidence debunks any suggestion that current detention conditions and medical care in immigration detention are adequate. According to agency records, individuals who have died had COVID-19, kidney disease, heart disease, and diabetes, among other treatable diseases. An analysis of phone calls to 911, from 10 of the largest detention facilities during the first six months of the Trump Administration, described a system overwhelmed by unmet medical needs and attempts to obtain urgent care. Of the 400 emergency calls, 50 involved possible cardiac events, 26 described seizures, and 17 were for head injuries. Seven involved suicide attempts or self-harm, such as overdoses or hangings, and six alleged sexual abuse, including at least one reported incident of staff-on-detainee abuse.
Doctors also have reported that federal immigration agents are interfering with medical care of detained immigrants who are referred to hospital settings for emergency care. Administrators at a hospital in Los Angeles, for example, reported that federal agents told doctors not to reach out to family members to determine what type of medication a person was on and would not allow private consultations between detained individuals and doctors.
Reports and lawsuits continue to document dangerous detention conditions in detention facilities. Consider the February death of Maksym Chernyak, who was detained at the Krome facility in Miami and died in custody after suffering a stroke in February. Staff waited more than 40 minutes before calling 911. Later that day, it was determined he had irreversible brain damage, and he died two days later. The death was especially heartbreaking in that, according to a medical expert, “[t]here was this neurological emergency—someone who was not responsive after a seizure—and a medical professional did not activate 911 for 45 minutes.” Reports have also emerged of pregnant women who have miscarried or bled for hours without access to care or were shackled while miscarrying. DHS recently acknowledged that the South Louisiana ICE Processing Center alone has been the site of four miscarriages.
It is unacceptable that record numbers of people are dying in ICE custody. The Department must comply with detention standards at every facility detaining immigrants and stop its efforts to restrict congressional oversight of detention facilities, including by unlawfully requiring Members of Congress to alert ICE seven days prior to detention visits, a policy recently blocked by a federal court, and failing to provide mandated reporting with details about the deaths. Each death in ICE custody is a tragedy and, based on the evidence available from agency records, 911 calls, and medical experts, many could have been prevented if not for this Administration’s decisions. To address these urgent concerns, we request that you provide answers to the following questions and information requests by February 27, 2026:
1. What actions has ICE taken to address the rising deaths of detained individuals in custody, including any changes to medical screening, suicide prevention, emergency response, or mortality review procedures? Please provide copies of any supporting records.
2. What is the legal rationale for excluding facilities like Alligator Alcatraz, or any other state or local facilities operating pursuant to a similar partnership with ICE, from ICE’s inspection, reporting, or detention-standards compliance structure? Please provide copies of any legal analysis and supporting records.
3. Are detainees who are held in state or local facilities like Alligator Alcatraz included in ICE’s required detainee-death notification and review procedures? If ICE considers these individuals outside the review process, please provide copies of any legal analysis and supporting records.
4. What oversight offices are currently responsible for monitoring ICE detention conditions?
a. For each office, describe its current staffing levels, investigative authorities, role in the detainee-death review process, and jurisdiction, including any limitations on oversight of facilities that are not integrated into ICE’s detention-tracking systems.
b. For each office, outline current authority, or lack of authority, to inspect, monitor, or evaluate detention facilities operated by state or local governments.
5. Provide records describing the role of ICE’s Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) with respect to death investigations and the status of investigations regarding each detained individual who has died since January 20, 2025.
a. Please include any records describing changes to OPR’s Office of Detention Oversight detention facility inspections, including any changes to the number of required inspections and guidance for facility inspections, since January 20, 2025.
6. Provide all records since January 20, 2025, related to changes or future changes in any of ICE’s detention standards, including communications with contractors regarding changes to detention standards. Please also respond immediately to pending oversight letters related to detention expansion, the dismantling of internal oversight offices, and ICE’s hiring practices.
We look forward to your prompt response and attention to this important request.
Sincerely,
Source: Senator Alex Padilla
