The federal fiscal year that ended this Wednesday became the deadliest on record for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE): 37 people died in custody of the agency between October 2025 and September 2026.
The figure marks a new high for deaths in ICE custody during a fiscal year, according to an investigation by Bloomberg Law published on the last day of the fiscal year.
The figure exceeds the 23 fatalities recorded during the fiscal year 2025 and significantly surpasses the 12 deaths recorded during the fiscal year 2024, in a context of massive expansion of the detention system under the second Trump administration.
Among the 37 deceased are at least four Cubans whose cases have prompted criminal investigations, lawsuits, and public complaints.
The dismantling of oversight
The rise in deaths coincides with the dismantling of the main control mechanisms.
The DHS Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties went from over 100 employees to fewer than five. The Detention Ombudsman Office was closed in May 2026 after its funding was eliminated by Congress.
Peter Mina, former civil rights official at the DHS, warned Bloomberg Law: “At this rate, the standards are going to keep declining because the goal is to increase the number of people in detention.”
According to Bloomberg Law, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) of DHS has emerged as the primary external agency responsible for inspecting and overseeing ICE detention conditions.
In September, critical reports were published regarding three facilities: Krome North (Miami), where the use of chokehold was documented; the facility known as Alligator Alcatraz, which was closed in June 2026; and the Cibola Correctional Center (New Mexico).
Claire Trickler-McNulty, former official of ICE and DHS, warned that the OIG cannot replace the preventive role of the dismantled agencies: "The ideal is a layered oversight approach, because each entity has a different role."
The death of the Cuban Geraldo Lunas Campos
Geraldo Lunas Campos, 55 years old, died on January 3, 2026, at the Camp East Montana detention center, located at Fort Bliss military base (El Paso, Texas).
The county coroner ruled her death as homicide by asphyxiation, contradicting the version provided by the Department of Homeland Security, which described the incident as an intervention to prevent self-harm.
Witnesses told Associated Press that Lunas Campos, already handcuffed, was subdued by at least five guards, one of whom strangled him with an arm around his neck while he repeatedly said, "I can't breathe."
He arrived in the United States in 1996 as a balsero, lived for over two decades in Rochester, New York, and was the father of four children.
He had a deportation order since 2005 that was never enforced because the Cuban government refused to issue the necessary travel documents.
The FBI opened a criminal investigation into the case, confirmed in April 2026 by the acting director of ICE before Congress.
The family also filed a civil lawsuit for over one million dollars against guards and companies associated with the facility.
The death of Lunas Campos was one of three reported at Camp East Montana in just 44 days.
More than 160 calls to 911 from that center, obtained by ProPublica and The Texas Tribune, documented medical and mental health emergencies that the staff could not address.
Other deceased Cubans
Denny Adán González, 33 years old, was found dead on April 29 at the Stewart Detention Center (Lumpkin, Georgia).
His cellmate reported that it was "impossible" to commit suicide in the isolation cell where he was held. The mother expressed the pain of many families: "The guards killed him."
Aled Damien Carbonell-Betancourt, 27 years old, died on April 12 at the Federal Detention Center in Miami, classified by ICE as a suspected suicide, with the cause still under investigation.
The family of the Cuban Juan Miguel Muñoz Peñalver, 21 years old, filed a federal lawsuit against the government of Louisville (Kentucky) following his death in February, which was classified as suicide due to acute psychosis resulting from dehydration.
"It is a death by dehydration in a first world country. How is this possible?" stated Jon Little, the family's attorney, to the Courier Journal.
Las muertes bajo custodia de ICE y las condiciones del sistema de detención migratoria siguen siendo un tema crítico. Consulta la sección de para mantenerte informado sobre todo lo que ocurre con las políticas migratorias y sus consecuencias.
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