US Immigration and Customs Enforcement is ending its coverage of reporting deaths of recently released detainees, the Department of Homeland Security stated – a coverage change that comes amid growing scrutiny over the deaths of immigrants in federal custody.
The earlier coverage, adopted in the course of the Biden administration, required the company to assessment and report all fatalities of federal detainees, together with these occurring up to 30 days after launch from custody.
The change in coverage was first reported by the Washington Post, which cited a memo from appearing director David Venturella despatched to company workers Thursday that stated ICE is eliminating its requirement to report deaths that happen inside 30 days of folks being released from its custody.
“Under this updated policy, when an individual is no longer in ICE custody then ICE will no longer be responsible for monitoring or reviewing deaths that may occur,” DHS stated in an X post Thursday, calling it “common sense.”
“ICE is not responsible when an individual passes away weeks after leaving their custody,” the DHS assertion went on to say.
NCS has reached out to the ICE and DHS for extra info.
Nearly 50 ICE detainees have died since President Donald Trump returned to workplace final 12 months and started his sweeping immigration crackdown, together with at the very least 18 to this point this 12 months.
More died in custody in 2025 than in any 12 months in at the very least 20 years, and 2026 is on observe to be even increased, in accordance to a research published within the Journal of the American Medical Association final month. A NCS investigation discovered that many of the deaths appear to have been preventable.
DHS and its contractors have been opaque about medical care inside detention facilities – usually declining to launch info just like the quantity of medical staffers available to state investigators, lawmakers or the press. DHS and the 2 largest contractors, GEO Group and CoreCivic, declined NCS’s request for these figures in earlier reporting.
In its assertion Thursday, DHS stated ICE “remains committed to transparency regarding detainee deaths” and that procedures are in place to guarantee well timed reporting of deaths in custody.
NCS’s Casey Tolan, Rob Kuznia, Priscilla Alvarez, Audrey Ash, Catherine E. Shoichet, Michael Williams and Rhyannon Bartlett-Imadegawa contributed reporting.