Editor’s Note: The following article was written by Salvador Sandoval MD, Mph, a Tribuno editorial board member.
A recent (March 25, 2026) KFF report titled “Deaths and Health Care Issues in ICE Detention Centers Under the Second Trump Administration” paints a startling and horrifying picture of the reality faced by arrested immigrants falling victims to the Trump and Stephen Miller arrest and deportation machine. This has prompted investigations by media, human rights advocates, and elected officials.
For example, in a recent videotaped interview Filiberto [pseudonym], a recently released detainee, described overcrowding and lack of medical attention, toiletries, decent drinking water, and adequate nutrition, and respiratory and skin health risks like exposed insulation and mold at the Otay Mesa detention facility near San Diego, California. In a recent Instagram post Arizona Congresswoman Grijalva and two other legislators did an un-announced visit to the Surprise, Arizona detention facility where people with medical conditions were either ignored or treated after great delay.
So far as of mid-April of this year there have been 17 documented deaths in ICE custody compared to 33 in 2025. In 2024 there were 11 deaths, which were prior to the massive raids and arrests of the Trump administration. This is a10 to 80 times higher death rate for detainees than immigrants detained in Europe, where most deaths occur on the border or the Mediterranean sea. In February Haitian immigrant Emmanuel Damas died of complications from a tooth infection in a U.S. detention facility when his pleas for medical assistance were ignored. The deaths also include a likely homicide in El Paso, Texas:
“The El Paso County Medical Examiner’s Office in Texas ruled a death in January 2026 to be a homicide due to the actions of enforcement officers, while ICE reported it as a suicide.”
Children and pregnant women are being detained in large numbers and held way beyond international standards such as those laid out by the United Nations, despite jeopardizing the lifelong physical and emotional health of the victims and their families.
The fact that detention centers are suddenly springing up unannounced in bought out abandoned warehouses all over the country is worrisome. In the rural San Joaquin Valley of California town of McFarland, community members are up in arms over the recent secretive acquisition of an abandoned warehouse in their community. This is happening around the country and is combatted successfully in many cases.
As it is, U.S. prisons and jails for the general population have poor health attention for inmates, but at least they are subject to public health and environmental inspections usually once a year, as well as grand jury investigations when problems are reported. They often don’t follow the recommendations given by these agencies though from personal communication. But at least public medical programs are potentially available to inmates, which is not the case for immigrant detainees in the detention centers.
In immigration detention centers there is less oversight due to overcrowding. Safety and health conditions, and food and water quality suffer as a result. Furthermore, the secretiveness of the placement of the prisoners and difficulty imposed on family members in accessing them for visits, or even by phone compounds the problem. The situation is ripe for abuse and cruelty and neglect as prison guards and staff know there is minimal chance they will be disciplined. A high percentage of the detention facilities are private (over 90% by estimates). Private facilities make their money by minimizing care and attention to detainees and “packing them in like sardines”, as Congresswoman Grijalva stated.
The private prison industry was already well funded at $2.4 billion in 2025. ICE’s budget expansion of $45 billion created a massive market for private contractors. This money came from the passage of HR1, Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill which comes at the expense of 10 million US residents losing their health benefits and many others losing SNAP food benefits.
- To make matters worse, the private prisons are not in a position to provide adequate medical care, even if they wanted to. Most deaths are in private facilities.
- An independent medical review (ACLU/PHR) found widespread misdiagnosis, delayed treatment, and botched emergencies across ICE detention, with private facilities heavily represented. Physicians for Human Rights – PHR
- Reports of people “wasting away,” denied care, and facing hunger strikes over food and medical neglect (e.g., GEO’s North Lake Processing Center). Borderless Magazine WKRG
- The loss of ICE’s medical‑claims contract with the VA has left ICE detainees without a functioning system to pay for outside medical care, causing widespread delays in medications, specialty treatment, and off‑site referrals.
As the December 10th Anniversary of the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights (UNDHR) approaches, we must resist the dehumanization of immigrants and their commodification as prisoners for private profit because we know the violence and cruelty will not end there. Over 80 years ago, following the ravages of World War II and the death and destruction of millions of people including immigrants and concentration camp victims, the U.S. signed this document, but it is not legally binding. The U.S. does not even have a national health system as do European countries, which condemns millions of U.S. citizens, let alone immigrants in detention to health dangers and early death.
As the December 10th anniversary approaches, we should keep in mind an accompanying arm to the UNDHR, holding the perpetrators of crimes against humanity accountable. Back then the Nuremberg Trials imprisoned or sentenced to death many of the worst offenders. We should learn from history and stay their hand before things grow worse. This includes voting them out of office, NIMBY (not in my backyard) or Anywhere Else protests against new detention centers, mutual aid and rapid response, electing candidates who fight for all of us—and yes, even taking the fight all the way to the United Nations.
Salvador Sandoval MD, MPH, family medicine doctor and former public health officer in Merced, California
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