Private Firms Profit, Prisoners Beg for Medical Help, and DHS Investigates Deaths
September 2, 2026—As the number of people taken and held by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement soared this Summer amid reports of “abysmal” conditions at the detention centers.
Since President Donald Trump started his second term in office in January 2025, 57 people have died in ICE custody. Last week, a Chinese national by the name of Lianyong Wei died hours after ICE arrested him in Saipan, a U.S. commonwealth in the Western Pacific. Meanwhile, thousands of others have suffered medical emergencies, such as head injuries, dehydration, strokes, and malnutrition, while in ICE custody, according to data obtained by American Oversight through a FOIA request to the government.
“Worms, standing sewage water, measles outbreaks,” said Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn. “The conditions of ICE detention in this country are abysmal. It’s a moral stain on this country,” said Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn. What we know from reports inside these detention facilities is that people’s lives are in jeopardy.”
Murphy met with detainees who had been released from custody after trying to unsuccessfully visit ICE detention centers in Texas. He said detainees lacked adequate access to legal representation and dealt with deplorable health conditions.
Non-Criminals Captured and Kept
Another startling fact stands out amid the cloud of contentious debate over immigration: A majority of those detained by ICE officials have no criminal records. Of the 66,904 people held in ICE detention centers in July 2026, 47,906 detainees had no criminal charges, according to government data ICE provided in response to a FOIA request to the Deportation Data Project. That’s 71 percent of all detentions. Of the remainder of those held, 16,889 people had been charged with nonviolent crimes while another 2,109 people had been charged with violent crimes, respectively 25.2 percent and 3.1 percent of the total.
“U.S. citizens and noncitizens alike have been detained, and in some cases, assaulted based on nothing more than how they look or sound,” said Yasmin Cader, the American Civil Liberties Union’s deputy executive director for Program, Strategy, and Culture.
The ACLU has filed more than 54 federal tort claims against the government alleging rights violations. According to the organization, some cases address injuries while others assert unlawful detention.
Campaign Promises Kept
For many Trump administration officials and allies, reports on ICE arrests and detentions are exactly what they are intended. Trump campaigned on a pledge to carry out “the largest domestic deportation operation in American history.” Throughout his 2024 campaign, Trump emphasized targeting “dangerous criminals” and “the worst of the worst.”
In practice, however, the Department of Homeland Security,through ICE and its counterpart Customs Border Protection, has swept up tens of thousands of people with no criminal record.
ICE agents are reportedly under orders to arrest 3,000 or more people per day. While the Justice Department has denied a daily quota exists, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller announced on air in May the daily goal.
“Under President Trump’s leadership, we are looking to set a goal of a minimum of 3,000 arrests for ICE every day and President Trump is going to keep pushing to get that number up higher each and every day,” Miller told Fox News Sean Hannity, Politico reported.
Not only are immigrants who are in the United States legally getting swept up in the raids, in some cases, but American citizens have also gotten arrested and deported. Brian Morales, a U.S. citizen born in Colorado, recently returned to the United States after getting illegally deported.
Personal Pain, Private Profit
Compared to the incarceration rate in the United States, immigration-related detentions are a far smaller number. However, detainees in immigration facilities often face far worse conditions, are more often held by privately-held prison operators, and are often denied rights to visitation.
Private prison corporations account for roughly 90 percent of the immigration-related detentions. Geo Group and CoreCivic are two of the largest companies contracting with the government. Earlier this month, the two companies reported a combined quarterly revenue of $1.4 billion from April to June 2026. NPR recently reported on the two groups’ corporate profits and cozy ties with the Trump Administration.
Detention-Related Deaths
Immigrant advocates are trying every legal means to obtain greater rights for those held in ICE detention centers. Reports of deplorable conditions, lack of health care, injury, and death are widespread. According to Freedom for Immigrants, a California-based rights organization, 54 people had died in ICE custody since Trump started his second term in January 2025. The organization says the figure does not account for those who died shortly after their release from detention. That number rose to 57 in recent weeks, according to recent tallies, although death counts vary depending on the definition and reporting cutoff.
In June, the Office of Inspector General for DHS launched an investigation into ICE-detention deaths occurring from October 1, 2021 to March 31, 2026. Joseph Cuffari, DHS IG, said his goal “is to determine whether systemic factors, policies, or processes contributed to detainee deaths.”
In the time since, more people died while in custody or immediately after release. One of them was a 29-year old man named Prisciliano Trejo who had lived in the United States since the age of three.
ICE detained Trejo in Durham, North Carolina, and transferred him to the Steward Detention Center in Georgia. Trejo had a history of leukemia. After three weeks in ICE detention, Trejo showed signs of severe illness. The ICE facility denied medical attention for eight days, took him to a hospital after he fell into a como, and only afterwards released him for family visits.
Shortly before he fell into a coma, Trejo shared a public message on social media, asking for help and prayers. It was the week of his 29th birthday, and it was his last public post:
“To those of you who wished me a happy birthday, thank you. As much as I would like to say I spent it with my friends and family. I have been in ICE custody for the past 3 weeks. In the Georgia detention center. Here you are treated like a number or like a placeholder. For the next batch of people who come and go. This week I’ve been dealing with a bad sore throat coughing blood in the morning and night and really bad migraines, and have yet to be treated or provided any medicine. Not to say I’m not holding on strong. Through faith and support through my family and friends who know. That doesn’t mean it’s easy either. There were days where I have cried and felt powerless. This is truly the worst feeling of my life. I pray for people in this situation because it [is] not easy. Most of these people aren’t even criminals. Their either working or coming home from work when captured. But these same people are making it a little easier in here because we all know we are going through the same situation.”
According to Detention Watch Network, ICE contacted Trejo’s family after he fell into a coma. Setareh Ghandehari, DWN’s advocacy director, called the incident a “watershed moment” that should force policy changes.
“We are deeply saddened and equally enraged by the loss of life at the hands of ICE,” Ghandehari said. “ICE kills people and threatens community safety across the country. No one is safe when ICE is present – whether on the streets or in one of the agency’s more than 200 abuse-ridden detention facilities.”
Meanwhile, the facility’s corporate owner CoreCivic declined to comment for this story.
According to its website, CoreCivic asserts it is serving the public good and “is committed to promoting a culture that prioritizes human dignity in all that we do.” The GER reached out to CoreCivic about the incidents at the Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia. (This page will be updated if the company responds after publishing time.)
Detainee Denied Stroke Medicine
Another case involves a pastor from Cary, NC. In July, ICE detained Gabriel Johnson outside his home and transferred him to facilities in Georgia and Texas. His family reported that ICE and or the facility staff denied Johnson consistent food, water, and vital stroke medication. He suffered a debilitating stroke while in ICE custody in Texas that left the left side of his body paralyzed. He had lived in the U.S. with legal status since arriving as a refugee from Liberia at age 15. Rep. Valerie Foushee, D-NC, are demanding his immediate release.
Medical Providers Wait for Payments
Another problem for the government is that ICE is not paying third-party medical providers for their services worth millions of dollars. It’s been nearly a year since the Department of Veterans Affairs stopped processing payments for medical care after more than two decades of fulfilling that role. That left ICE unable to pay for medical necessities off-site, according to government records dating back to November 2025.
ICE has tapped Acentra Health in a contract worth $67.5 million to take over processing for medical reimbursements, according to an August 24 announcement. The agency suggested that the VA is still authorized to process payments due for services before September 30, 2025. Reportedly, medical providers like UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital are still waiting to receive reimbursement of almost $4 million for treating immigrant detainees. “”Like other healthcare providers, UCHealth has been unable to submit claims and has not been reimbursed for care provided since Oct. 1, 2025, because of a disruption in the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) medical payment system,” UCHealth spokesman Dan Weaver said.
Politically Polarizing Topic
Politically, ICE enforcement of immigration is one of the most politically polarizing issues in the country today. Debate over enforcement, in particular, heightens the right-left divide.
Republicans loyal to Trump emphasize they are following through on campaign promises to address migration surges that took place during the administration of former President Joe Biden. Many lead figures like Vice President JD Vance downplay reports of inhumane conditions in detention, comparing it to the dangers of human trafficking. Some, like Border Czar Tom Homan, label criticism of enforcement mechanisms as fake stories. Homan insists that DHS sets high standards.
“The bottom line is anyone can go the ICE.gov, go to the detention standards, read the detention standards,” Homan said in a recent interview. “They are the highest detention standards in the industry. Higher than any state prison, higher than any federal, you know, lockup.”
In 2016, the federal government convened a committee to investigate standards of detention centers run by private companies. They found a lack of oversight and enforcement.
“Federal government regulation of these private prisons is toothless and sporadic due to the comfortable relationship between regulators and the regulated. As a former deputy director of ICE recently pointed out, for-profit prison companies have been hiring former immigration officials6 to help them secure favorable contract terms. Therefore, the vast majority of private immigration detention contracts do not include any robust penalty provisions for failing to meet government standards.” the 2016 DHS report said.
Democrats Don’t Buy the Trump Administration’s Lines
For many Democrats in office, ICE arrests and detentions are a top issue. Many are meeting firsthand with detainees and/or visiting detention centers to get information. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., noted conditions like water coming out of the tap black and reports of injuries. Jayapal is calling on colleagues in Congress to abolish the government’s use of for-profit detention centers as well as to dismantle ICE and transition its functions to other departments.
“We noticed a huge discrepancy between what they tell us and what the detainees tell us,” Jayapal said. “ICE isn’t going after the ‘worst of the worst’ –– they are kidnapping people with pending immigration cases and no criminal history from the airport. Cruelty for the sake of cruelty.”
