HRW/PHR Report 'Dying in Detention': 52 Deaths in 500 Days, Mortality Rate Nearly Triple Biden Era

Human Rights Watch and Physicians for Human Rights published a joint 73-page report, 'Dying in Detention: Rising Deaths in an Expanding US Immigration Detention System,' on June 25, 2026. The report documents 52 deaths in ICE custody in the 500 days between Trump's January 20, 2025 inauguration and June 4, 2026, and finds the trend-adjusted mortality rate — 8.4 per 10,000 detainees — is nearly triple the Biden administration's rate and more than two-and-a-half times the first Trump administration's rate, now exceeding even the COVID-19 pandemic-era rate. Mortality rose 138% even as the detained population grew 77% to over 71,000 in January 2026, indicating deaths are increasing disproportionately faster than detention itself. Of deaths analyzed in the first 12 months, 36% occurred within two weeks of entering custody and 31% within one week; seven deaths appeared to be suicides in the first year compared with one in 2024. The report attributes the surge to systemic medical neglect, overcrowding, and reduced oversight, and calls for an independent investigative body after DHS shuttered the Office of Immigration Detention Ombudsman (OIDO) on May 5, 2026.