The number of deaths in ICE custody is already more than double all of last year
Ten people have died while in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody so far this fiscal year, more than twice as many as last year and three times as many as the year before, according to ICE data and news releases.
Ten people have died while in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody so far this fiscal year, more than twice as many as last year and three times as many as the year before, according to ICE data and news releases.
There have been more deaths in the first eight months of the current fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30, than in all 12 months of five of the six preceding years. The only fiscal year for which the 12-month total exceeds the current tally is 2020, during the height of the Covid pandemic. That year, 21 people died while in ICE custody. That compares with four in 2023, three in 2022, five in 2021, eight in 2019 and six in 2018.
An ICE spokesperson said in a statement to NBC News that it “takes very seriously the safety of those in its custody and remains committed to ensuring that all those in its custody reside in safe, secure, and humane environments.”
“Comprehensive medical care is provided from the moment individuals arrive and throughout the entirety of their stay,” the agency said in the statement, as well as in previous statements following detainee deaths. “All people in ICE custody receive medical, dental and mental health intake screening within 12 hours of arriving at each detention facility, a full health assessment within 14 days of entering ICE custody or arrival at a facility, and access to medical appointments and 24-hour emergency care. At no time during detention is a detained noncitizen denied emergent care.”
The agency also said that its ICE Health Service Corps “executed an operating budget of nearly $324 million on the spectrum of healthcare services provided to people in ICE custody in fiscal year 2022.”
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/number-deaths-ice-custody-already-double-last-year-rcna154659
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