WASHINGTON D.C. – New official data from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) confirms that 17 people held in immigration detention facilities across the United States have died since the start of 2026, marking a continuation of a years-long upward trend in detainee mortality that has drawn widespread criticism from immigration advocacy and human rights groups.
The most recent fatality, recorded by ICE this Thursday, involves a 27-year-old Cuban national who was found unresponsive in his cell at a Miami federal detention center on April 12. Emergency response teams carried out immediate resuscitation procedures, but the man was pronounced dead at the scene. Authorities have not yet released a confirmed cause of death, noting that the investigation into the circumstances of his passing remains ongoing.
Historical data compiled by ICE and reported by NBC News places this year’s mortality figures in a troubling context. In 2025, ICE recorded 33 detainee deaths across its custody network – the highest annual total recorded in more than 20 years. That marked a sharp jump from 2024, when 11 deaths were reported among people held in immigration detention.
As of early April 2026, ICE’s total detainee population sits at more than 60,000 people. While this overall population number has fallen modestly in recent months, it remains substantially higher than the detention levels recorded before the return of Donald Trump to the U.S. presidency, a period during which the administration has implemented sweeping and restrictive immigration policies that expanded detention capacity and increased overall detention numbers.