- Three detainee deaths in under two weeks highlight a surge in fatalities—20+ this fiscal year—amid expanded ICE detentions and overcrowded facilities.
- Advocates and lawmakers blame inadequate medical care, neglect, and aggressive deportation policies; ICE insists policies exist while investigations proceed.
In a troubling escalation that’s drawing sharp criticism from advocates and lawmakers alike, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has confirmed three detainee deaths in less than two weeks—a pace that’s fueling fears over the agency’s handling of medical care and facility conditions amid a surge in detentions under the Trump administration.
The most recent case involves Hasan Ali Moh’D Saleh, a 67-year-old Jordanian national with a long history in the U.S., who passed away on October 11 at Larkin Community Hospital in Miami, Florida.
According to an ICE press release, Saleh was admitted to the hospital the day before with a fever and was found unresponsive the following evening around 6:32 p.m.
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Hospital staff performed CPR, briefly reviving him before he suffered another cardiac arrest and was pronounced dead at 7:13 p.m.
The preliminary cause was listed as cardiac arrest, compounded by his documented conditions: hypertension, heart disease, renal disease, and diabetes.
Saleh’s path to detention was marked by a mix of legal residency and past convictions. He first entered the U.S. in 1994 on a temporary visa, later gaining permanent resident status despite a welfare fraud conviction that same year.
In 2018, he served a 24-month federal prison sentence for conspiracy involving food stamps and wire fraud. After his release in 2019, ICE detained him briefly before an immigration judge ordered his removal in early 2020.
He was released under an Alternatives to Detention program that June, only to be picked up again on September 14, 2025, in Pompano Beach, Florida, as part of enforcement tied to his final removal order. From there, he was held at the Krome Detention Center.
This marks the third such fatality in a shockingly short window.
Other Deaths Under ICE Custody
Just days earlier, on October 4, Leo Cruz-Silva, a 34-year-old Mexican national, died at the Ste. Genevieve County Jail in Missouri in what ICE described as an apparent suicide attempt.
Cruz-Silva had a history of multiple U.S. entries and removals dating back to 2010, including arrests for disorderly conduct and public intoxication. He was taken into ICE custody on October 1 after a local arrest for public intoxication in Festus, Missouri, pending reinstatement of a prior removal order.
Emergency personnel pronounced him dead at 3:47 p.m.
The first in the trio was Huabing Xie, whose death on September 29 came after a seizure at the Imperial Regional Detention Facility in Calexico, California. The Chinese national, arrested by Border Patrol in late 2023 near Tecate, had been released on recognizance but was detained again in mid-September in Indio, California, while his case was processed.
On-site medical staff at the facility initiated CPR and used a defibrillator before rushing him to El Centro Regional Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead that afternoon.
No preexisting conditions were noted in ICE’s announcement.
These back-to-back tragedies aren’t isolated blips but part of a grim pattern that’s seen at least 20 deaths in ICE custody so far this fiscal year, according to the Detention Watch Network, a coalition pushing for better migrant treatment.
That’s already surpassing the 12 recorded in fiscal 2024 and putting 2025 on track to be one of the deadliest years in two decades.
For context, the last time fatalities topped 20 was during the COVID-ravaged 2020, with 21 deaths; the all-time high remains 32 in 2004, shortly after ICE’s creation.
A Nation in Distress Under Aggressive Deportations
Advocates point to the administration’s aggressive deportation push as a key driver. Since President Trump returned to office in January, ICE has ramped up arrests and detentions, with average daily populations exceeding 59,000—far above recent years.
Facilities run by private operators like CoreCivic and Geo Group have faced overcrowding complaints, alongside reports of inadequate food, extreme temperatures, and spotty medical access.
“Trump’s cruel mass detention expansion is exacerbating the inhumane conditions that are inherent to ICE’s detention system and have been well documented for decades,” said Setareh Ghandehari, advocacy director at Detention Watch Network, in a statement to Newsweek.
“Over the last nine months, there have been increasing reports of death, medical neglect, isolation, overcrowding, lack of food, and rampant transfers that cut people off from their loved ones and support networks.”
Cases Involving a Variety of Nationalities
The broader toll this year underscores the urgency. In June alone, two more deaths—a 75-year-old Cuban man, Isidro Perez, from heart issues at a Miami facility, and 49-year-old Canadian Johnny Noviello, found unresponsive in the same city—pushed the count into double digits early.
Perez, who’d lived in the U.S. for decades and had a minor marijuana conviction from the 1980s, collapsed after chest pains at Krome; his passing brought the fiscal year total to 12 by mid-summer, matching all of 2024.
Noviello, convicted in 2023 on drug trafficking charges, died despite immediate medical response, with his case still under review.
Earlier fatalities paint a similar picture of vulnerability. In May, Abelardo Avellaneda-Delgado, 68, from Mexico, died during transport to Georgia’s Stewart Detention Center. June saw Jesus Molina-Veya, 45, also Mexican, ruled an apparent suicide at the same facility.
July claimed Tien Xuan Phan, 55, from Vietnam, at a Texas hospital, and August took Chaofeng Ge, 32, from China, by suicide in Pennsylvania, plus Lorenzo Antonio Batrez Vargas, 32, from Mexico, in Arizona.
September brought more heartbreak: Ismael Ayala-Uribe, 39, a former DACA recipient from Mexico, died after complications from an abscess surgery in California’s Adelanto facility, where detainee numbers had ballooned from 300 to over 1,200 in months. He suffered from hypertension and tachycardia, conditions advocates say went unaddressed despite pleas for help.
Lawmakers aren’t staying silent. In late September, Georgia Senators Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock fired off a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons, demanding details on 14 confirmed deaths since January—plus reports of a 15th—and plans to curb the rise.
“We write with serious alarm regarding the rise in the number of deaths in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody nationwide,” they wrote, spotlighting two Georgia cases and delays in public reporting that violated ICE’s own 48-hour disclosure rule. Ten of those deaths hit in the first half of the year alone, the senators noted—the most for any January-to-June stretch in ICE records.
Statements from ICE
Even as the numbers climb, ICE maintains a steadfast line on care. “ICE remains committed to ensuring that all those in its custody reside in safe, secure and humane environments,” the agency said in a statement following Saleh’s death.
“Comprehensive medical care is provided from the moment individuals arrive and throughout the entirety of their stay.”
Detainees get intake screenings within 12 hours, full assessments in 14 days, and round-the-clock emergency access, per policy.
Every death triggers reviews by the DHS Office of Inspector General and ICE’s Office of Professional Responsibility, with notifications to Congress, consulates, and families within hours. Full reports go public within 90 days, as mandated by law.
But critics, including the ACLU, argue the system falls short, with preventable lapses like undiagnosed illnesses and mental health gaps too common. Tom Homan, Trump’s border czar, has brushed off the concerns, telling reporters in July after Perez’s death: “People die in ICE custody, people die in county jail, people die in state prisons.”
Such rhetoric, paired with funding boosts for detention expansion, has only heightened the divide.
As investigations into these latest deaths unfold, one thing’s clear: with deportation operations in overdrive, the human cost is mounting.
Families mourn, facilities strain, and calls for reform grow louder. Whether this prompts real change—or just more statistics—remains to be seen.
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