Deaths of immigrants detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement

Since 2004, 65 detainees are acknowledged to have died in Immigration and Customs Enforcement(I.C.E.) custody but little is known about the circumstances surrounding these deaths. Immigration detention is the fastest growing form of incarceration in the United States, involving the detention of over 200,000 people annually and approximately 30,000 at any one time. We have reviewed relevant information provided to the United States Congress and the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants in an effort to better characterize these deaths. In only twenty cases was significant medical information available. Six deaths occurred after medication was withheld during detention, including the following cases; a-death from myocardial infarction in a detainee with known renal disease whose antihypertensive medication was withheld, b-death of a detainee with AIDS from meningitis/pneumonia whose prophylactic dapsone was stopped and c-death involving seizure in a known epileptic who was not given his anti-seizure medication. Pre-existing conditions among these detainees included chronic renal disease, AIDS, hypertension, pancreatic cancer, epilepsy, unknown vaginal bleeding. In two instances, persons with prescriptions for pain medication had this medicine withheld but died of other causes (suicide and pancreatic cancer). Unlike persons detained by the criminal justice system, the healthcare of detained immigrants is directed by Department of Homeland Security(DHS) administrative rules, not any enforceable regulation or law. Physicians and others involved in the health care of immigrants must promote an acceptable standard of health care for immigrants detained by I.C.E. and demand accountability when these standards are not met.