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By Billal Rahman
Immigration Reporter
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Three people being held by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) died within four days in late February and early March, according to several agency press releases.
At least 11 detainees have died in ICE custody so far in 2026, according to a Newsweek analysis of detainee death notifications.
Silky Shah, Executive Director of Detention Watch Network told Newsweek: "Decades of evidence illustrate that no one is safe in ICE custody."
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Why It Matters
The deaths have renewed concerns over medical care and oversight in ICE detention facilities under the Trump administration. Newsweek has revealed multiple allegations of abuse in ICE-run centers, including instances of medical neglect and mistreatment of detainees.
The number of deaths in ICE custody have increased in recent years, with seven in‑custody deaths occurring in 2023, 11 in 2024 and 32 in 2025.
At the same time, the number of people held in ICE detention has climbed to historically high levels. The Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) recorded 68,289 people in ICE custody on February 7, 2026. That compares with TRAC snapshots showing about 32,743 in late August 2023 and about 37,782 on January 13, 2024.
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What To Know
Alberto Gutiérrez‑Reyes, a 48‑year‑old Mexican national held by ICE, died in a California hospital on February 27 after being admitted for chest pain and shortness of breath, the agency announced March 4.
ICE said Gutiérrez‑Reyes reported feeling faint on February 25 and was transferred from the Adelanto ICE Processing Center to Victor Valley Global Medical Center in Victorville, where he was evaluated.
Early on February 27, medical staff at the hospital initiated life‑saving measures after he became unresponsive, and he was pronounced dead, ICE said.
The agency said Gutiérrez‑Reyes had a criminal history that included a conviction for inflicting corporal injury on a spouse and said the agency follows mandated procedures for detainee deaths.
Los Angeles City Council member Eunisses Hernandez said on Facebook that Gutiérrez‑Reyes had been "denied medical care."
Gutiérrez‑Reyes’s wife, Patricia Martínez Hernandez, told ABC7 that her husband had diabetes and high cholesterol, and she said the medical center failed to properly treat these conditions.
"He would say that he wasn’t feeling well. He wasn’t feeling well," Martínez Hernandez told the outlet. "When my son went to go see him Sunday, my son goes every Sunday, he would tell me, ‘Mom, dad’s skin is yellow. His face is yellow.’ Last week, the Sunday before, he told me, ‘Mom, his eyes are yellow."
Pejman Karshenas Najafabadi, a 59‑year‑old Iranian national, died on March 1 at Merit Health Hospital in Natchez, Mississippi, ICE said in a press release on March 6.
"ICE is required by policy to report detained deaths within 48 hours of their occurrence, yet this death does not appear to have been publicly reported until approximately five days after it took place, raising questions about compliance with the agency’s own reporting requirements," Austin Kocher, an immigration professor at Syracuse University, wrote in a blog post.
He had been transferred from a detention facility on February 20 for ongoing medical care and was receiving treatment at the hospital when he suffered a cardiac arrest.
ICE said that Karshenas had a medical history that included a prior cardiac arrest, inflammation of the heart, and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.
He had previously been convicted of multiple crimes, including conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine, prostitution, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, possession of fentanyl and theft, among other charges, the agency said.
Karshenas was originally admitted to the United States in 1991 as a lawful permanent resident, commonly known as a green card holder, according to ICE.
Emmanuel Damas, a 56-year-old Haitian man detained after an asylum claim, was transferred from a detention facility to a hospital in Scottsdale and died on March 2 after what family members described as a severe tooth infection and subsequent complications.
The Boston Police Department arrested Damas for assault and battery on September 14, 2025, and ICE Boston took him into custody without incident the following day at the Boston Police Department Nashua Street Jail in Boston, according to ICE.
He was ordered removed by an Immigration Judge on January 6, 2026, and on January 27, he filed an appeal with the Board of Immigration Appeals, but remained in ICE custody under the mandatory detention requirements of the Laken Riley Act while the appeal was pending, according to ICE.
Damas told detention medical personnel he was suffering from severe toothache, his family told several local news outlets. He was only given over‑the‑counter pain relievers instead of being seen by a dentist, and the untreated infection worsened, according to CBS Boston.
On February 19, Damas was taken to a local hospital for shortness of breath and later moved to an intensive care unit in Phoenix, where he remained intubated on a ventilator and underwent tests and surgeries; ICE’s timeline shows he was repeatedly in critical condition and in hospitals, with next‑of‑kin notified as care progressed.
Silky Shah, Executive Director of Detention Watch Network told Newsweek: "ICE’s immigration detention system deprives people of freedom, isolates people away from loved ones, and subjects people to abysmal conditions, including inadequate medical care and mental health services, inedible food, and racist abuse. The Trump administration’s massive detention expansion is exacerbating the inhumane conditions inherent to ICE’s detention system."
Newsweek has contacted ICE for comment via email.
Update 3/9/26, 11:59 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with comment from Executive Director of Detention Watch Network Silky Shah.
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