The Department of Homeland Security has just responded to a report by Axios that deaths have spiked to a 20-year high among ICE detainees under President Trump.
First, here’s what Axios wrote:
Deaths in ICE custody reach 20-year high amid Trump enforcement push https://t.co/PmCIayNcXg
— Axios (@axios) January 20, 2026
But DHS responded a few minutes ago, calling this report a ‘smear’ against ICE, and say there have been NO spokes in deaths at their ICE facilities:
Yet again, the media is trying to twist data to smear ICE law enforcement. There has been NO spikes in deaths.
Consistent with data over the last decade, death rates in custody are 0.00007%.
As bed space has expanded, we have maintained higher standard of care than most prisons that hold U.S. citizens—including providing access to proper medical care. For many illegal aliens this is the best healthcare they have received their entire lives.
ICE is clearly detaining a lot more illegal aliens than previous administrations, so you can’t just look at a death number count and claim it’s a spike versus years past. It must be relative to the number of people they are detaining for deportations versus times past, which is why DHS provides the percentage. It’s jut more accurate.