ICE Medical Neglect: Detainees Describe Systemic Failures

A joint investigation by The Associated Press and KFF Health News has uncovered widespread allegations of medical neglect across the U.S. immigration detention system, with hundreds of detainees in at least 33 states filing federal lawsuits claiming that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities are failing to provide adequate medical care. The allegations range from denial of medications for chronic conditions like high blood pressure, diabetes, and HIV to allowing cancers to go untreated and infections to fester, according to the investigation published June 2.

Scope of the Crisis

KFF Health News and AP analyzed roughly 33,000 habeas corpus cases filed by detainees from January 20, 2025 through March 2026. Of approximately 4,400 petitions that were accessible, reporters identified more than 300 cases containing specific allegations of delayed, denied, or deficient healthcare in sworn filings, as detailed in the investigation’s methodology.

The crisis is unfolding against a backdrop of surging detentions under President Donald Trump’s second term. More than 75,000 immigrants were in ICE custody as of mid-January 2026, nearly double the figure from a year earlier. About 70% of detainees have no criminal conviction, and their immigration proceedings are civil, not criminal.

Deadly Consequences

The Department of Homeland Security reported 51 deaths in detention since the start of Trump’s second administration. Researchers wrote in JAMA in April 2026 that ICE custody is “deadlier than it has been in two decades.”

A separate AP investigation published May 27 found that at least 10 detainees, all men, have died by suicide since January 2025 — a pace far exceeding the growth in the detainee population. Seven deaths since October 2025 represent the most suicides for any fiscal year in ICE’s history. ICE has usually recorded one or no such deaths annually.

“Something is going profoundly wrong from any kind of public health or mental health perspective,” Dr. Sanjay Basu, a University of California-San Francisco epidemiologist who co-authored the JAMA study, told AP. “This is one of those alarming, sudden increases.”

Voices from Inside

Detainees describe a system where basic medical needs go unmet. Vardan Gukasian, a political dissident and former paramedic who spent 13 months detained in Henderson, Nevada, wrote in a court declaration: “I have never seen such disregard or medical neglect like this anywhere.” Last June, as Gukasian experienced symptoms of uncontrolled high blood pressure — dizziness, a nosebleed and a headache — his cellmate banged on their door for help. When it did not arrive, the rest of the block banged on their doors. He was hospitalized that day.

Brian Hoffman, an attorney representing a detainee with glaucoma who lost vision while in custody, 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. Before, you could attempt to work with folks on the government side and maybe shame them into doing the right thing. Now, it’s sort of like anything you want done you have to go to court and sue over.”

A System Under Strain

The investigation reveals that medical neglect is alleged across the sprawling detention system, including in offices not designed to house people, county jails, and quickly staged sites with nicknames such as “Alligator Alcatraz” in Florida. Detainees report being denied gauze for open foot wounds, prenatal care for high-risk pregnancies, and sanitary pads for postpartum bleeding.

In fiscal year 2023, ICE spent more than $390 million on healthcare for detained noncitizens. At a conference in May 2026, then-acting director Todd Lyons said ICE has spent “almost half a billion dollars” on detainee healthcare this year. Yet the surge in detention population has strained resources, and many medical providers working with ICE have been unpaid since fall 2025 due to a bureaucratic change in billing methods.

Institutional Failures

ICE inspectors documented 49 violations of detention standards at Camp East Montana in El Paso, Texas — then ICE’s largest facility — including failure to record required checks to prevent self-harm and suicide, and unsecured tools throughout the facility, according to the AP’s suicide investigation. The facility has seen at least three detainee deaths and a measles outbreak.

In late May, the ACLU of Texas and partners filed a lawsuit over conditions at Camp East Montana, arguing that conditions amount to “unconstitutional punishment” violating detainees’ due process rights.

Meanwhile, DHS last year gutted the Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman, and in early May 2026, shut the office entirely, citing a lack of funding from Congress. Previously, ombudsman staffers could facilitate medical care or investigate complaints of neglect.

Conflicting Accounts

The Department of Homeland Security has pushed back against the allegations. Acting Chief Medical Officer Sean Conley said in a February 2026 statement that “it is both policy and longstanding practice for aliens to receive timely and appropriate medical care from the moment they enter ICE custody” and that detainees receive “better, more responsive healthcare than many aliens have ever received in their entire lives.” Private contractors CoreCivic and GEO Group, which run many detention facilities, said they follow ICE standards and provide healthcare when required.

Human Toll

For families watching from the outside, the wait is agonizing. Cassandra Amador, whose husband Pedro Javier Amador Gutierrez has high blood pressure and is detained at a Florida facility nicknamed “Deportation Depot,” said he sounds weaker and more scared every day. He has already collapsed twice. She said he is considering returning to Cuba, which he fled because of political persecution, out of fear that he will die in detention without his medicines.

Jose-Antonio Segismundo, 48, was deported to Mexico this spring with untreated abdominal cancer after more than seven months in detention. His wife said officials gave him Tylenol when his stomach pain erupted. Now, she said, he will have to restart his search for care in the Oaxacan village where he grew up.

What’s Next

More than 40,000 habeas corpus petitions have been filed during Trump’s second term, fueled by decisions to deny bond to many people held on immigration charges. The legality of this mandatory detention policy is headed toward the Supreme Court. With the Ombudsman office shuttered, medical providers unpaid, and detention numbers continuing to climb, advocates warn the crisis is likely to deepen before any systemic reforms take hold.

As The Texas Tribune reported, 23-year-old Andrea Pedro Francisco, who was denied surgery for a painful ovarian cyst for four months while detained at Camp East Montana, was finally released on June 4. Her attorney called it “nothing short of a miracle” — but noted that many others remain in detention, away from family and denied medical treatment.