ICE Is Hiring Dozens Of Health Workers As Lawsuits, Deaths In Custody Mount

The Trump administration’s decision to expand health staff inside immigration detention centers comes amid a surge in detainee deaths and a decline in federal oversight—raising urgent questions about accountability rather than care. ICE has reported 20 detainee deaths in custody in a single year under Trump, nearly matching the Biden administration’s entire tally, a staggering figure given that more than 60,000 migrants are currently detained. 

These facilities are described as overcrowded, poorly monitored, and often makeshift, including “hastily constructed” tent cities where disease spreads faster and chronic conditions are left unmanaged. Yet, instead of strengthening oversight, Homeland Security attempted to eliminate offices charged with investigating abuse, calling them “internal adversaries that slow down operations.”

Medical neglect is repeatedly flagged as the driving force behind preventable deaths. Suzanne Cho of the ACLU notes, “People are not given medication. Specialist care is denied. People are transferred from place to place before they’re able to actually get their care.” The impact of constant transfers is devastating—prescriptions lost, treatments halted, diabetic detainees left without insulin, even chemotherapy patients suspended mid-treatment. One lawyer recounts, “I have a client right now who has untreated diabetes — they just stopped giving her medicine.” 

ICE’s refusal to answer basic medical inquiries signals a culture not of care, but abandonment.

Despite agency claims in court that it “provide[s] adequate food, clothing, shelter, and medical care,” watchdogs and human rights organizations forcefully dispute this. A 2024 ACLU and Physicians for Human Rights report argues that over 90% of deaths in ICE custody were preventable with competent medical attention. The issue is not staffing alone—it is structural neglect. Jonathan White, a former federal health official, warns, “This is a system to abduct and detain people without meaningful due process… it cannot be made humane or healthy or safe no matter how many people you throw at it.”

Meanwhile, oversight has been deliberately weakened. Independent inspectors general were fired. Civil rights investigators laid off. Lawmakers denied access to facilities. As ICE seeks to detain up to 100,000 people per day, advocates fear mounting disaster. “My greatest fear,” Cho states, “is that we’re going to continue to see the number of people who unfortunately die… grow.”

Link:  https://www.politico.com/news/2025/10/20/ice-is-hiring-dozens-of-health-workers-as-lawsuits-deaths-in-custody-mount-00614485

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