ICE acknowledges medical failures in 23 immigrant deaths in its custody, investigation finds

An internal investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) concluded that deficiencies in medical care were a factor in the deaths of 23 immigrants who died while in the agency's custody, according to reports obtained by the San Francisco Chronicle.

The California newspaper reviewed ICE's internal investigations into 29 immigrants who died between January 2025 and January 2026. In at least 23 of the cases, investigators rated the care provided as deficient, and staff departed from safe medical practice protocols or failed to provide the necessary care.

In at least eight cases, medical workers did not properly perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) or did not perform it at all. Among the cases is that of Nicaraguan Delvin Rodríguez, 39, who hanged himself on December 4, 2025, at a Mississippi facility, one day after telling a guard he no longer wanted to “keep living in this world.”

Another is that of Chinese national Huabing Xie, who reported chest pain at a California facility and died of a heart attack almost two hours later without any doctor evaluating him. Since January 2025, ICE has doubled its detention centers, from 134 to 272, according to the Migration Policy Institute.

Photo: El Minnesota de Hoy

Source: San Francisco Chronicle