Death Rate in ICE Custody Reaches 22-Year High, JAMA-Published Analysis Finds

TIME reported August 10, 2026 on a medical-journal (JAMA) analysis finding the fatality rate in ICE custody has reached a 22-year high. Between the start of FY2026 (Oct 1, 2025) and Jan. 19, 2026, 18 immigration detainee deaths were reported; at least 17 more followed through the article's publication. The death rate climbed from 13 per 100,000 person-years in FY2023 to 47.5 per 100,000 in FY2025, then spiked to 88.9 per 100,000 in the first three and a half months of FY2026. Researchers tied the surge to the roughly 70% expansion of the detained population — from about 40,000 before Trump's second term to over 68,000 by February 2026 — combined with reduced medical oversight. Cardiovascular issues accounted for 18.5% of deaths, infectious disease 13.8%, suicide 10.8%, and neurological causes 7.7%, with cause undetermined in nearly half of cases. NBC News separately reported physicians' groups raising alarm over the same JAMA findings.