- U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement reported thirteen deaths in early 2026 following a record-high 2025.
- The detained population reached nearly 69,000 people as critics and families allege inadequate medical care.
- Medical examiner findings have contradicted initial ICE reports in high-profile cases like Geraldo Lunas Campos.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has reported at least 13 deaths in immigration custody in the first months of 2026, a pace that has drawn national attention after 31 people died in 2025, a record-high year.
The early 2026 deaths came as the detention population climbed above 68,000 and then to approximately 69,000, placing the issue at the center of a widening debate over detention conditions, medical care, oversight and how federal agencies describe deaths in their custody.
Department of Homeland Security officials have argued the rise in deaths tracks the growth in the number of people being held. Families, advocates and lawmakers have pressed for closer scrutiny of what happened in individual cases, especially where early agency descriptions later changed or where relatives alleged delayed care.
How the Deaths Are Counted
How those deaths are counted matters. The official record includes the date of death, the person’s name, nationality, the facility or hospital involved and the reported cause, but those entries do not always end the story.
Some cases were first described one way and later reclassified after additional findings. That distinction has become central to understanding whether patterns point to medical complications, self-harm, violence, untreated illness or delays in treatment inside immigration custody.
Among the deaths reported this year were multiple cases described as medical complications. ICE records and public statements also included a March 16, 2026 death at Glades County and a series of deaths at detention centers and hospitals in Texas, California, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Indiana, Mississippi and Arizona.
The list of reported deaths includes Geraldo Lunas Campos of Cuba on Jan. 3, Luis Gustavo Nunez Caceres of Honduras on Jan. 5, Luis Beltran Yanez-Cruz of Mexico on Jan. 6, Parady La of Cambodia on Jan. 9, Heber Sanchez Dominguez of Mexico on Jan. 14, Victor Manuel Diaz of Nicaragua on Jan. 14, Sothy Sim of Cambodia on Feb. 16, Alberto Gutierrez Reyes of Mexico on Feb. 27, Pejman Karshenas Najafabadi of Iran on Mar. 1, Emanuel Cleeford Damas of Haiti on Mar. 2, Mohammad Nazeer Paktyawal of Afghanistan on Mar. 14 and Royer Perez-Jimenez of Mexico on Mar. 16.
Those case details, reviewed together, show why advocates and researchers often look beyond a single total. A facility name can point to local practices. A reported cause can later shift. Hospital transfers can raise questions about how long a person had been ill before reaching outside care.
The Broader Detention Context
The broader backdrop is a detention system that expanded quickly. ICE’s detained population hit a record high of approximately 69,000 in early 2026 as the Trump administration pursued what the government’s critics called a “mass deportation agenda” and increased detention bed space.
A larger detained population does not by itself prove why any person died. Still, it forms part of the context for concerns about intake screening, chronic-care treatment, suicide prevention, staffing and oversight across a fast-growing network of detention sites and contracted facilities.
That pressure has shaped the public response from DHS. On January 12, 2026, DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said, “As bed space has expanded, we have maintained [a] higher standard of care than most prisons that hold U.S. citizens — including providing access to proper medical care. There has been NO spike in deaths. Consistent with data over the last decade, death rates in custody are 0.009% of the detained population.”
DHS repeated that defense in a March 21, 2026 statement, saying, “Any claims that there are ‘inhumane’ conditions at ICE detention centers are categorically false. The Department prioritizes the health, safety, and well-being of all aliens in its custody.”
Those statements frame the issue in rate-based terms, comparing deaths to the overall detained population. Critics have focused instead on the absolute number of deaths, the pace early in the year and allegations about care inside facilities.
Cases That Changed the Public Understanding
Few cases illustrate the stakes more sharply than that of Geraldo Lunas Campos. ICE initially described his Jan. 3 death at Camp East Montana in Texas as a “Medical Emergency.”
Later, the El Paso County Medical Examiner ruled the death a homicide caused by “asphyxia due to neck and torso compression.” That later finding changed public understanding of the case and raised new questions about internal reporting and the reliability of first descriptions released after deaths in custody.
DHS later said Lunas Campos “violently resisted” guards while attempting self-harm. The contrast between the initial medical-emergency description, the later homicide ruling and the department’s later account became a test case in the wider argument over transparency.
Another closely watched death involved Royer Perez-Jimenez, 19, at the Glades County Detention Center in Moore Haven, Florida. In a March 18, 2026 newsroom notice, ICE said, “Royer Perez-Jimenez, 19, a criminal illegal alien from Mexico. passed away March 16 at the Glades County Detention Center in Moore Haven. He was pronounced deceased at 2:51 a.m. [The death is a] ‘presumed’ death by suicide.”
That wording matters because a presumed cause can differ from a later forensic determination. In death-after-death reviews of immigration custody, preliminary statements often shape early public understanding even when later findings alter the picture.
Medical Complications and Allegations of Delayed Care
Other reported deaths point toward medical issues. ICE listed medical complications in several January and February cases, while Pejman Karshenas Najafabadi died on Mar. 1 at Merit Health Hospital in Mississippi after cardiac arrest, and Mohammad Nazeer Paktyawal died on Mar. 14 at Parkland Hospital in Texas after swollen tongue/respiratory arrest.
Emanuel Cleeford Damas died on Mar. 2 at Florence Hospital in Arizona after shortness of breath. His brother said the death followed an untreated toothache that led to a systemic infection, an allegation that fed broader claims from families and advocates that smaller health problems can worsen inside detention before outside care arrives.
Those claims have become a focus of advocacy groups and attorneys representing detainees and their relatives. They argue that some deaths reflect untreated illness, delayed treatment or failures to respond to vulnerable people with serious health needs.
The concern extends beyond people already known to have chronic conditions. Asylum seekers and others taken into custody abruptly can arrive with trauma, stress or health issues that require prompt screening and follow-up, and advocates say those cases often expose gaps in detention medicine and monitoring.
Paktyawal’s death drew added attention because he was an Afghan who assisted the U.S. military and died less than 24 hours after being taken into custody. For advocates, that case highlighted the vulnerability of people whose backgrounds may already place them at unusual risk.
Congressional Scrutiny
Lawmakers also stepped in. On February 18 and 27, 2026, a group of over 20 U.S. Senators, including Alex Padilla and John Hickenlooper, sent letters to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem calling the surge in deaths a “clear byproduct” of the administration’s policies and citing “abysmal conditions” and “inadequate medical care.”
Those letters widened the issue from a series of individual tragedies into a question of federal accountability. They also reinforced a recurring divide: the government has defended conditions and pointed to population-based rates, while senators, families and advocates have pressed for independent review of what happened in each death.
Why Case-by-Case Reporting Matters
That is why case-by-case reporting remains central. A single count can show pace, but it cannot show whether a person died after prolonged illness, after a hospital transfer, after time in segregation, or in circumstances that later forced officials to revise what they had first said.
Publication timing can shape that understanding too. A death notice may appear in one official channel before fuller information appears elsewhere, and the wording can differ between an initial ICE statement, a detention death entry and later forensic findings.
Readers seeking to verify the official record can compare entries at the ICE detainee death reporting portal with notices posted in the ICE Newsroom. The Senate letters also form part of the documented oversight record, including the February 27, 2026 Senate correspondence.
Cross-checking matters when dates, causes or facility narratives do not line up neatly. An early ICE description may reflect what officials knew at the time, while a medical examiner’s later determination can reshape the public account.
For families, the difference is not academic. When a death in immigration custody moves from a brief initial explanation to a homicide finding, a presumed suicide report or allegations of untreated illness, the question becomes not only how a person died, but how quickly and fully the government told the public what happened.
That accountability question now sits alongside the rise in detention itself. With deaths continuing to mount early in 2026 and the detained population at record levels, each new entry in the public record carries weight far beyond a single line in a database.
