The most damning account of medical care in immigration detention didn’t come from advocates. It came from ICE’s own reviewers.
Why it matters
The San Francisco Chronicle obtained 29 internal mortality reviews, via a Freedom of Information Act request, covering detainee deaths from January 2025 through January 2026. In 23, investigators found staff “deviated from safe limits of practice” or “did not provide medical care within safe limits of practice.”
The details
- At least eight times, staff performed CPR incorrectly or not at all.
- In only three of the 23 cases did reviewers conclude the failures did not directly contribute to the death.
- The reviews describe no discipline for staff or contractors, immigration researcher Austin Kocher notes.
- DHS told the Chronicle there has been “NO spike in deaths,” though federal data cited by the paper show 2025 had the most detention deaths since ICE was created in 2003.
Between the lines
The timing is pointed. On the same Monday, the Supreme Court heard Nielsen v. Watanabe — whether people can sue federal officers for constitutional violations, in a case about a prison medic. And a day earlier, President Trump told “60 Minutes” his deportation push “might be too tough.”
What’s next
Rep. Bennie Thompson, the top Democrat on House Homeland Security, plans hearings on detention deaths next year, according to the Chronicle. Democrats take both chambers in January.
Our view
The number matters less than the author. When an agency’s own reviewers document the failures, “propaganda” stops being a defense. The harder question: if ICE knew, why was no one held accountable? Talk of a softer approach means little until conditions inside these facilities change.
Sergey Danilov
Sources
- San Francisco Chronicle, S.J. Barned-Smith and K.L. Cheang, “Exclusive: ICE investigated how dozens of detainees died. The findings are ‘damning’,” Nov. 6, 2026 (paywalled; facts cross-checked below)
- The New Republic, Nov. 6, 2026
- Austin Kocher, This Week by the {Immigration} Numbers, Nov. 9, 2026
- Capture Cascade timeline entry on the Chronicle report
Leave a Reply