ICE Detainees Allege Widespread Medical Neglect Across US

A joint investigation by The Associated Press and KFF Health News has uncovered more than 300 sworn allegations of medical neglect across the U.S. immigration detention system, with detainees in at least 33 states reporting conditions ranging from festering infections to untreated cancer. The findings, published June 2, paint a stark picture of a system struggling to provide basic healthcare to a rapidly expanding detained population.

According to the investigation, reporters analyzed thousands of habeas corpus petitions filed since President Donald Trump’s second inauguration in January 2025, identifying hundreds of cases where detainees swore under penalty of perjury that they were denied adequate medical care. Allegations include withheld medications for chronic conditions such as diabetes, HIV, epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease, and high blood pressure, as well as delayed treatment for infections and cancer.

A System Under Strain

The investigation comes as ICE’s detained population has surged dramatically. As of mid-January 2026, the agency held over 75,000 immigrants, up from approximately 40,000 a year earlier — a nearly 90% increase. Approximately 70% of detainees have no criminal conviction; their proceedings are civil, not criminal.

Researchers writing in JAMA in April 2026 described ICE custody as “deadlier than it has been in two decades.” The Department of Homeland Security reported 51 people had died in detention since the start of Trump’s second term, with suicides spiking to unprecedented levels.

Voices from Inside

Vardan Gukasian, a political dissident and former paramedic from Armenia who spent 13 months detained in Henderson, Nevada, described conditions in stark terms. “I have never seen such disregard or medical neglect like this anywhere,” he wrote in a court declaration in March 2026, describing uncontrolled high blood pressure and delayed emergency care.

Masuma Khan, a 64-year-old Bangladeshi immigrant detained at California City Detention Facility, said she only intermittently received medications for high blood pressure, hypothyroidism, prediabetes, asthma, and glaucoma during her month in custody. Her daughter, Riya Khan, said her mother stumbled into her seat during a visit, shaking and struggling to breathe.

Perhaps most alarming is the case of Jose-Antonio Segismundo, a 48-year-old detainee with abdominal cancer who was held at facilities in Florida and Georgia. According to the KFF Health News report, he was arrested about five weeks before his scheduled appointment with a cancer specialist. His wife, Maria Jose Gonzalez, said officials gave him only Tylenol for his cancer pain despite her sending his medical records. This spring, Segismundo was deported to Mexico without ever receiving cancer treatment.

Broken Oversight

The investigation highlights the elimination of key accountability mechanisms. DHS gutted the Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman in 2025 and shut it entirely in early May 2026, citing lack of congressional funding. Previously, ombudsman staff could help facilitate medical care or investigate complaints of neglect.

“Now, there’s no one to call,” said Matt Boles, an immigration attorney in Georgia.

Immigration attorney Brian Hoffman described the situation as “brazen indifference to really obvious problems, things you would have thought absurd a decade ago — like the fact that you can’t see.” He noted that previously, attorneys could work with government officials to resolve issues, but now “anything you want done you have to go to court and sue over.”

The Government’s Position

The DHS acting chief medical officer, Sean Conley, has previously defended ICE medical care, stating: “It is both policy and longstanding practice for aliens to receive timely and appropriate medical care from the moment they enter ICE custody. This is better, more responsive healthcare than many aliens have ever received in their entire lives.”

Private prison companies operating detention facilities, including CoreCivic and Geo Group, said they follow ICE standards. “Nothing matters more to CoreCivic than the health, safety and well-being of the people in our care,” spokesperson Brian Todd said.

A Legal and Humanitarian Crisis

More than 40,000 habeas corpus petitions have been filed during Trump’s second term, fueled by decisions to deny bond to many immigration detainees. Many habeas claims have been successful, though judges typically cite reasons unrelated to medical neglect. The question of mandatory detention without bond hearings appears headed to the Supreme Court.

Detainees are frequently moved across the country without warning, interrupting medical treatment. Even court orders for care are not always followed; ICE cited an “internal scheduling error” for missing a court-ordered cancer specialist appointment.

Healthcare Spending Amidst Crisis

ICE spent more than $390 million on detainee healthcare in fiscal year 2023, according to its most recent annual report to Congress. In May 2026, then-acting ICE Director Todd Lyons said at a conference that the agency had already spent “almost half a billion dollars” on detainee healthcare in the current year. Despite these significant expenditures, detainees and advocates say the care delivered falls far short of what is required.

Dora Schriro, a former ICE official who now serves as a special adviser to the American Bar Association, noted that case law requires the government to treat immigration detainees with the same care it affords those in traditional jails awaiting trial. But administrators are granted broad discretion, and medical care standards vary widely across facilities.

What to Watch For

The investigation raises urgent questions about the capacity of the detention system to provide adequate care for a population that has nearly doubled in size. With the ombudsman office shuttered and courts overwhelmed by habeas filings, advocates say detainees have few options beyond litigation. The Supreme Court’s potential review of mandatory detention policies could fundamentally reshape ICE operations, but for the thousands currently in custody, the consequences of delayed or denied care continue to mount.

As families watch their loved ones deteriorate from afar — and as detainees like Pedro Javier Amador Gutierrez consider returning to their countries of origin out of fear of dying without medication — the human toll of the crisis becomes increasingly difficult to ignore.