ICE Rescinds Policy on Reporting Deaths of Released Detainees

(UNITED STATES) — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement rescinded a policy requiring the agency to report deaths of people who die within 30 days of release, narrowing its public death reporting to cases that occur while a person is in custody, under ICE watch at a medical facility, or in transit.

The change was set out in an internal memo issued by Acting ICE Director David Venturella on June 4, 2026 and confirmed in statements on June 5, 2026. Venturella wrote, “ICE is returning to the standard practice of reporting deaths that occur while an individual is in agency custody.”

A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson defended the shift as a “common sense” revision. “Under this updated policy, when an individual is no longer in ICE custody then ICE will no longer be responsible for monitoring or reviewing deaths that may occur. It is common sense that ICE should not be responsible for monitoring or reviews when an individual passes away weeks after leaving their custody.”

The revised policy reverses a transparency measure adopted in 2021. That earlier rule required ICE to track and publicly report any death that occurred within 30 days after release, a step intended to capture cases in which someone left detention gravely ill or injured and died soon afterward.

Under the new directive, the agency’s formal death-notification and review process now applies only to deaths inside a detention facility, in a medical facility while the person remains under ICE watch, or during transport. A death after release or deportation falls outside that process, even if it occurs the next day.

The update also changes the directive’s language. The policy, identified in some tracking projects as ICE Directive 11003.6, replaces references to “noncitizen” with “alien.”

The timing comes as ICE faces higher detention numbers and a rising death toll. ICE reported 18 detainee deaths in the first five months of 2026, after 2025 recorded between 33 and 49 deaths, the highest fatality rate in more than two decades.

Detention levels also climbed sharply. The detained population rose to about 60,000 to 70,000 individuals, up from roughly 39,000 held at the end of 2024, during an administration-wide focus on what officials have described as mass deportation.

That combination, more people in custody and more deaths, gives the reporting change added weight for lawmakers, inspectors and outside monitors who track detention conditions. A death that once would have triggered a formal review and public record can now disappear from ICE’s death-reporting system if it occurs after release.

Critics and human rights groups argue that the narrower rule will obscure the health effects of detention. Their concern centers on detainees who leave custody with untreated or worsening medical problems, then die shortly afterward, leaving no formal ICE investigation tied to the agency’s detention system.

Former Homeland Security officials have said the 2021 rule was meant to prevent the agency from releasing seriously ill detainees to avoid counting those cases as in-custody deaths. Under the new standard, that safeguard no longer applies once a person leaves agency custody.

The effect reaches beyond families seeking answers. Oversight bodies lose a clearer record of whether illnesses were contracted, missed or aggravated in detention, because a death after release no longer appears in the same official accounting used to assess detention health conditions.

ICE pushed back on criticism about medical care in detention. In a statement on June 5, 2026, the agency said, “This is the best healthcare many aliens have received in their entire lives. Meals are certified by dieticians. Ensuring the safety, security, and well-being of individuals in our custody is a top priority at ICE.”

Public records tied to the previous policy remain available on ICE’s detainee death reporting page, while detention requirements are outlined in the agency’s 2025 National Detention Standards. The Department of Homeland Security also posts public statements in its newsroom, though the latest internal memo may not yet appear in those archives.

The shift was first revealed through a review of internal documents and now stands as an administrative rollback of one of the few rules designed to capture deaths soon after release. With reporting limited to custody, medical watch and transit, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has closed off a category of deaths that once offered a public window into what happened after detention ended.