The Department of Homeland Security's internal watchdog announced Thursday it will investigate two critical aspects of Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations: a spike in detainee deaths and whether ICE facilities comply with use-of-force standards.
The inspector general's office cited a steady climb in ICE detainee fatalities as the trigger for the reviews. Since 2022, deaths have increased every fiscal year. The probe will examine whether systemic failures, departmental policies, or operational processes contributed to detainee deaths from October 1, 2021, through March 31, 2026.
The numbers underscore the urgency. As of this week, 20 detainees have died in ICE custody during 2026. Last year saw 33 deaths, compared to 11 in 2024. One death this year at Camp East Montana in El Paso, Texas, was ruled a homicide and is under FBI investigation.
The second review targets use-of-force protocols after a recent DHS inspector general's report documented violations at a Louisiana detention center, including a prohibited chokehold and a guard using a pen to stab a detainee over a cell door.
The timing coincides with a heated exchange on Capitol Hill. During a House Appropriations Committee hearing Thursday, Rep. Lauren Underwood, D-Ill., confronted Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin about what she called a "historically high death rate" in ICE detention. Mullin pushed back sharply, arguing that deaths in ICE facilities occur at a lower rate than in Illinois state prisons.
"Those are dangerous accusations that she's making," Mullin said, noting that the state of Illinois has "twice as high" a death rate in its penitentiaries than ICE detention.
The controversy has intensified over ICE's recent change to its death notification policy. The agency now reports detainee deaths only while a person remains in physical custody, a shift from its previous standard of reporting any death within 30 days of release. The new approach means ICE no longer documents cases where detainees become ill during detention, transfer to hospitals, and subsequently die.
At least 11 ICE detainees died at hospitals in 2026 under this revised framework, meaning those deaths would not appear in official ICE statistics.
When asked about the policy change Thursday, Mullin defended the approach. He said documenting deaths of detainees who have left custody "doesn't make any sense," because those individuals are "not under our watch at that point."
ICE announced another detainee death this week. Felix Alcorta-Rodriguez, 63, a Mexican national, died at the Webb County Detention Center in Laredo, Texas. The cause remains pending autopsy results.
Author Sarah Mitchell: "The watchdog reviews are necessary, but the timing and scope matter less than whether they lead to real accountability and policy change in how ICE manages one of the most vulnerable populations in the criminal justice system."
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