Our legal actions target documents on fatalities in ICE and CBP detention and DHS oversight methods as the Trump administration reduces public access to information.

On Wednesday American Oversight initiated two legal proceedings in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to obtain records about the concerning increase in deaths while in immigration custody and the Department of Homeland Security’s initiatives to examine supervise and address these incidents. These actions occur as the administration works to limit openness regarding in-custody fatalities and minimize the unprecedented surge in deaths in immigration detention despite ongoing rises in such events. The cases together request essential details on the situations leading to deaths in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection in addition to the guidelines methods and operations of the DHS units tasked with ensuring adequate supervision and responsibility.

The initial case requests documents about individuals who died in ICE and CBP custody since President Donald Trump began his second term. This includes detainee death reviews mortality reviews root cause analyses significant incident reports autopsies toxicology reports and additional materials that may clarify the events surrounding those deaths the environments in which they took place and whether further actions could have avoided the outcomes. We filed Freedom of Information Act requests with ICE and CBP in April yet the agencies have not supplied the required records.

The follow-up case requests materials from DHS and CBP on policies procedures protocols and oversight efforts connected to deaths in immigration custody. It specifically seeks details on the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties the Office of Immigration Detention Ombudsman the DHS Office of Inspector General and CBP rules covering deaths that happen after release from CBP custody. The case further seeks updates on investigations by CRCL and OIDO since March 2025. These FOIA requests were also submitted in April but remain unanswered by the agencies.

Fatalities in ICE custody have increased sharply during a major expansion of immigration detention. Public data indicate at least 33 individuals died in ICE custody during 2025 marking the highest yearly figure since 2004 and 2026 already appears positioned to exceed that total. The detained population has simultaneously hit record highs with more than 68,000 people held in ICE custody earlier this year.

Until late last year ICE regularly issued detailed reports on custody deaths that included timelines and information on medical care provided before death. In December the agency shifted to brief summaries that exclude many of those specifics making it far harder for families oversight entities and the public to grasp the context of custody deaths or assess whether the government is responding properly. This reduced openness arrives as attention to detention conditions grows and questions increase about whether avoidable deaths are occurring inside the immigration detention network.

Behind every death in immigration custody stands a person along with family and community members seeking explanations. As deaths in detention climb the administration has elected to supply less information to the public while downplaying serious worries about the rising death count. Transparency becomes essential precisely at such times said Chioma Chukwu Executive Director of American Oversight. Families merit answers about what occurred with their loved ones and the public deserves to learn whether the government is taking real steps to correct the conditions and lapses that lead to custody deaths. Rather than increasing openness this administration has chosen to disclose less while urging the public to trust the system without evidence. These lawsuits aim to secure the records needed to assess what the government understands how it has acted and whether accountability is being enforced.

In 2024 American Oversight the American Civil Liberties Union and Physicians for Human Rights issued Deadly Failures Preventable Deaths in U.S. Immigration Detention a thorough examination of deaths in ICE custody from 2017 through 2021. Based on more than 14,500 pages of materials gathered via public records requests litigation and civil discovery plus independent medical expert analysis the report reviewed the deaths of individuals reported to have died in ICE custody and assessed both the medical care they received and the government’s oversight procedures.

The report determined that 95 percent of the deaths examined were preventable or possibly preventable with appropriate clinical medical care. It also identified major weaknesses in DHS and ICE oversight systems including probes that failed to retain evidence omitted critical facts did little to pinpoint systemic causes of deaths and produced no meaningful consequences for facilities where deaths occurred. As deaths in immigration custody keep rising the report’s conclusions highlight the need for transparency accountability and strong oversight to prevent further avoidable tragedies.

Today’s lawsuits represent the newest stage in our work to reinstate meaningful oversight of a detention system that this administration has increasingly protected from public view. Since 2025 we have collaborated with Democracy Forward to successfully represent more than a dozen members of Congress in litigation challenging the Trump administration’s moves to block lawful congressional oversight of conditions inside immigration detention facilities. The matter emerged amid growing reports of overcrowding inadequate medical care unsanitary conditions and other abuses and has produced multiple court orders confirming Congress’s power to inspect detention facilities and investigate conditions the administration attempted to shield from public examination.