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Fifteen of the 45 detention centers of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), with the capacity for 500 or more detainees, have not received any inspections in over 12 months, a situation that exposes thousands of migrants to conditions without any federal oversight.
An analysis from CBS News published on Thursday revealed that based on official inspection reports, it found that five of those 15 large facilities have no record of having been inspected at any time, meaning that approximately one third of the country's highest-capacity centers are operating without recent oversight.
The root of the problem is a policy change that ICE implemented in 2025: facilities dedicated exclusively to detainees of the agency were inspected twice a year instead of just once.
Shared prisons with other inmates are now subject to review every two years, and facilities with fewer than 50 migrants are now conducting biennial "assisted self-inspections."
Among the facilities identified without recent inspections are the Florence Correctional Center (Arizona), whose last inspection was in December 2024 and currently houses an average of 518 detainees daily, and the Golden State Annex (McFarland, California), which has not been reviewed since January 2025 and has an average of 603 detainees.
The controversial center known as "Alligator Alcatraz," located in the Florida Everglades, was never inspected by ICE prior to its closure in June, despite having processed nearly 21,000 deportations in less than a year.
This lack of oversight coincides with a serious deterioration in detention conditions.
The mortality rate under ICE custody has more than doubled since the beginning of Trump's second term: from one death for every 3,848 detainees - historical average between 2009 and 2024 - to one for every 1,630, according to an analysis by Reuters published on June 17.
At least 50 people have died in custody since January 2025, including 21 found unresponsive before receiving medical attention. There are ten cases of individuals who took their own lives and 16 due to cardiovascular complications.
The mortality rate reached 88.9 deaths per 100,000 detainees in the fiscal year 2026, the highest level in 22 years, even surpassing the peak recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic, which was 75.6 in 2020.
The overcrowding exacerbates the situation: the detained population grew from about 40,000 people in January 2025 to approximately 57,000 in early June 2026, and the use of force in detention centers increased by 37% in 2025 compared to the previous year, with 780 incidents and 1,330 people affected.
On July 3, Democratic congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz conducted a surprise inspection at the ICE center in Miramar, Florida, where she found more than 150 people in four rooms designed for 56 each, experiencing extreme temperatures, a single toilet without privacy per room, and showers available every two days.
"There are literally people lying on the floor. There is absolutely no space. It's people from wall to wall," declared the legislator, who also warned: "It's difficult to know if you meet ICE standards if a facility is not inspected."
The Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has initiated an official investigation into the rise in deaths and the use of force in ICE facilities, with fieldwork scheduled for next August.
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