Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers are experiencing a catastrophic mental health emergency. Five detainees have died by suicide in 2025 alone, already the highest toll in two decades with the year only half finished. Nine men ranging from ages 19 to 45 have died by suicide during Trump's second term, all by hanging.
The surge comes as ICE holds nearly 60,000 people, nearly double the roughly 34,000 detained under the Biden administration. The average length of detention has climbed to 50 days from 36, trapping immigrants in facilities for months without clear release dates.
More than 1,000 emergency calls have been placed from just six detention centers across the country over the past year, with at least 28 involving serious self-harm incidents. One detainee swallowed a razor blade. Another drank cleaning chemicals. At least three cut their wrists. A pregnant woman in a Texas facility began banging her head against a wall four days before Christmas, requiring hospitalization.
The emergency logs also document 39 calls describing detainees experiencing acute psychosis or severely altered mental states. At a Michigan facility, a man named Gabriel Leiva was placed in solitary confinement after being removed from his pod without explanation. He fashioned his clothing into a noose and attempted suicide, only discovered when guards checked on him.
The data paints a picture of a system rapidly overwhelmed. Overall deaths in custody tripled from 2024 to 2025, even as the DHS spokesperson disputed any spike, claiming death rates remain at 0.009 percent of the detained population and stating that conditions meet higher standards than most prisons holding U.S. citizens.
Over four years of the previous administration, which held half as many detainees, only two suicides occurred. The difference is stark and undeniable.
Conditions and Monitoring Failures
Inspections have revealed widespread failures in suicide prevention protocols. Stewart Detention Center in Georgia had not completed mandatory suicide prevention training for all staff as of a March 2025 inspection. More critically, the facility failed to conduct required 15-minute checks of suicidal detainees, with logs showing gaps of up to 125 minutes between wellness checks.
Nationwide, 19 instances since the start of Trump's second term show facilities failing to meet ICE suicide prevention standards. The Department of Homeland Security has not issued new guidance on handling immigrants at risk of self-harm despite the escalating crisis.
Dr. Sanjay Basu, an epidemiologist at the University of California, San Francisco who has researched ICE deaths, called such incidents highly preventable. Early mental health assessments and regular monitoring of at-risk detainees could save lives, he said, adding that spikes in self-harm signal a much larger population struggling with mental health challenges.
Immigration attorney Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg said the problem extends beyond facility conditions, though those remain abysmal. The real damage comes from uncertainty. One of his clients was detained for 11 months. Many detainees don't know when or if they will be released. Immigration proceedings drag on indefinitely, and hope deteriorates day by day.
More than 20,000 detainees currently in ICE custody have no criminal background beyond immigration violations such as overstaying a visa or crossing the border illegally.
Of the nine men who died by suicide during Trump's second term, three had violent criminal histories, four had minor nonviolent offenses like disorderly conduct, and two had no criminal record at all. Most deaths have occurred shortly after detention began, suggesting the shock of incarceration itself may trigger crises.
Victor Manuel Diaz was arrested in Minneapolis on January 6 on an immigration violation and transferred to a facility in El Paso. He died by suicide eight days later. His autopsy was handled by a military coroner, which does not publicly release findings. His family suspects foul play and has ordered an independent autopsy.
While Congress retains authority to conduct surprise inspections of detention facilities, new restrictions are limiting oversight. When Representative Mike Levin, a California Democrat, visited an ICE facility unannounced, he was told he could not speak to detainees without providing their names two days in advance and obtaining written consent. The new policy makes it harder for lawmakers to verify conditions and detect abuse.
The DHS Office of Inspector General typically conducts four to six unannounced inspections per year. A $20 million federal funding increase is expected to boost inspections tenfold, though it remains unclear when that money will take effect or whether it will reverse the current trajectory.
CoreCivic runs Stewart Detention Center. The GEO Group operates the South Texas facility where the pregnant woman was held. Both companies have declined to comment directly, referring all questions to ICE.
Author Sarah Mitchell: "The system is not just broken, it's actively killing people, and the government's refusal to acknowledge the crisis or change course suggests things will only get worse."
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