With the number of immigrants dying while in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention rising, the agency has opted to shrink the scope of deaths it will be required to report.
In a memo sent to employees last Thursday, acting director David Venturella said that ICE is eliminating the requirement to report deaths occurring within 30 days of release from detention.
“ICE is returning to the standard practice of reporting deaths that occur while an individual is in agency custody,” Venturella said in the memo reviewed by the Washington Post.
The Biden administration introduced a 30-day requirement in 2021, under which ICE was held accountable for the deaths of people who were released from custody with serious health conditions.
“The policy changed to make clear that ICE should not release people simply to avoid deaths in custody,” Deborah Fleischaker, acting chief of staff of the Biden administration, told the Washington Post.
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This change in policy comes amid concerns about the quality of medical care provided in ICE facilities after 18 deaths were reported in the first five months of 2026.
Notably, last year, ICE documented 30 deaths, its highest number of deaths in two decades.
In an email to the Washington Post, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said: “ICE remains committed to transparency regarding detainee deaths.”
However, the ICE spokesperson argued that it is “common sense” that ICE should not be responsible for monitoring or reviews “when an individual passes away weeks after leaving their custody.”
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In one such case, Martin Vargas Arellano contracted COVID-19 while in ICE custody at Adelanto Detention Facility in 2021.
Vargas Arellano had pre-existing severe medical conditions that made him especially vulnerable to the disease, and despite pleas for his release, he was kept in detention.
He was released from custody while hospitalized and brain-dead. Three days later, he died.
His family has an ongoing wrongful death lawsuit against the facility’s contractor, alleging that it failed to implement and enforce protocols that could have prevented his death.
Later in 2021, the policy of reporting deaths within 30-days of release was introduced.
“Mr. Vargas Arellano’s case is emblematic of what happens when you don’t have a policy of reporting deaths that occur immediately after release,” Khaled Alrabe, the family’s attorney, told CNN.
“This creates a situation where ICE can basically release people on their deathbed and then not have to worry about having to do any investigations,” he added. “Even when the situation … was a result of the conditions of detention.”
The Washington Post contacted the DHS Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, which said that not investigating the death of a person who dies shortly after release from ICE custody “is a missed opportunity to improve the care provided and reduce liability.”
