Immigrants, residents, and citizens of every background are dying under the anti-immigrant policies of the Trump administration. More lives have been lost at the hands of federal immigration agents since the start of the president’s second term than they were in the previous two decades.
Below you’ll read a story of a Cuban grandfather who never made it to detention, but was instead sent straight to a hospital, where he died ten days later with visible bruises and bleeding. Another case where a 32-year-old man from China was found hanging with his hands and feet bound behind his back.
There’s the story of a 19-year-old from Mexico, arrested for riding his scooter, who didn’t survive his short time in detention. A visually-impaired 56-year-old man from Myanmar who died in the cold after being abandoned by agents, far from his home, in the middle of New York’s worst winter conditions.
You’ll find the story of a 41-year-old who assisted the U.S. military in Afghanistan, then died within his first 24 hours in what some people label an “ICE concentration camp.” And the case where a medical examiner overruled ICE’s claims that a man died by “suicide,” labeling it as a homicide instead.
Although many people were able to avoid being trapped in for-profit U.S. detention centers run by companies like GEO Group and CoreCivic, due to their being deported from the U.S. on buses or planes, several of those same individuals arrived home in coffins.
Some of the deceased mentioned here fell victim to our country's all-too-common phenomenon of mass shootings. While others died on the front lines, shot in cold blood by government agents.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) alleges that, in some cases, deaths were the victim’s fault; in others, that the victim was a domestic terrorist or that the deaths are still “under investigation.”
If you were to only read the detainee death reports and press releases coming from the DHS, you may be convinced that everyone mentioned here is a “Criminal Illegal Alien,” a term the agency uses to dehumanize and justify their ends. Yet a majority of people held in U.S. detention centers—over 70%—have no criminal record, according to TRAC.
An investigation by the San Francisco Chronicle found that a majority of the people who died in ICE custody did not have a violent criminal history.
Immigration detention is defined on ICE’s website as non-punitive, meaning it is not supposed to be a place where punishment is inflicted. Detention is considered a civil process under federal law, and there are currently widespread violations of due process guarantees.
“The safety, health, and well-being of the people in our facilities is our top priority,” Ryan Gustin, Senior Director of Public Affairs for Core Civic, wrote in a two-page-long statement to L.A. TACO. “CoreCivic also does not know the circumstances of individuals when they are placed in our facilities.”
Core Civic is the operator behind California City’s for-profit detention center. In the statement, Gustin says the company follows “all applicable detention standards and policies that our government partners expect of us.”
In the statement, Core Civic said it has an ICE Detention Standards Compliance Officer, while all detainees have daily access to medical care, and that three nutritious meals are provided daily.
Reporting by San Francisco Chronicle analyzed 32 of the deaths that occurred in detention and found that 17 people died after medical staff misdiagnosed or delayed critical care, resulting in a deadly outcome.
At least 13 people died due to misdiagnoses, a lack of diagnosis, or a crucial illness. At least 10 people whose cases were reviewed died after detention facility staff did not call 911 or send them to an emergency room.
L.A. TACO finds that at least six people died after being released from ICE custody, their medical needs allegedly so neglected that their health had deteriorated beyond repair, causing them to die just days or weeks after being sent home.
In one case, Randall Gamboa Esquivel, who traveled from Costa Rica to the U.S. in good health before being detained and disappeared by ICE, was sent home in a vegetative state—his family likening his condition on arrival to that of a cadaver, according to The Guardian. In other cases, people were abandoned far from home and died trying to get home.
San Francisco Chronicle’s analysis found that in recent months, ICE detainee death reports have become less detailed. When the outlet requested fuller records, the agency did not respond to their request by the legally mandated deadline set in the Freedom of Information Act.
The Chronicle found that deaths in ICE custody were not solely due to the rapid increase in the number of people being detained under the second Trump administration, but that deaths are occurring at the highest rate per average daily population since 2009, and in less time than in previous years. 2025 had the highest amount of deaths in ICE custody since the agency was opened in 2003.
L.A. TACO finds that in 2026, there have been a total of 17 deaths in ICE custody, compared to eight deaths in the same period last year.
Below you’ll find the tragic stories of these individuals as best as we at L.A. TACO could research them. Juxtaposed with DHS’s messaging, they’re meant to honor each person as more than just statistics, sterilized DHS terms, or forgotten headlines, lost in the chaos that the Trump Administration and the DHS have wrought.
Here are the names of every person we’ve found who has died since January 2025 after being detained by a U.S. federal immigration agency. We hope that the following register provides a brief pause to remember the names and stories of the victims. This register will continue to be updated to reflect new deaths as we learn about them.
If you have a loved one who has died in ICE custody during federal immigration enforcement actions, or after being released from ICE custody, please email us at tips@lataco.com.
If you are looking to help protect immigrants in your community or are seeking immigration-related assistance, check out the following organizations located in L.A.:
- VC Defensa: This volunteer-based Ventura County organization specializes in rapid response, neighborhood ICE patrol, and providing medical/legal aid.
- Unión del Barrio: "Since 1981 Unión del Barrio has led struggles to resist migra and police violence; defend the rights of workers, prisoners, mujeres, and youth; and even launched numerous independent electoral campaigns," they write on their website.
- Instituto de Educacion Popular del Sur de California: IDEPSCA's community support is rooted in providing healthcare for workers, supporting day laborers, and educating low-income community members on organizing strategies.
- National Day Laborer Organizing Network: "NDLON improves the lives of day laborers, migrants and low-wage workers. We build leadership and power among those facing injustice so they can challenge inequality and expand labor, civil and political rights for all," they describe in their mission.
- Immigrant Defenders Law Center: ImmDef describes themselves as "a next-generation social justice law firm that defends our immigrant communities against injustices in the immigration system."
