UN rights chief expresses alarm over deaths in ICE custody
US immigration enforcement faced mounting scrutiny Jan. 23 from international officials as well as congressional Democrats following a detainee death ruled a homicide by a county medical examiner in Texas. The disturbing development comes amid a dramatic spike in deaths in Homeland Security custody.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk called on the US to ensure that its immigration policies comply with international law, citing reports of arbitrary detentions, family separations, and dehumanizing treatment. And Democratic lawmakers demanded that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem answer for a growing death toll in immigration detention since President Donald Trump took office for his second term.
The medical examiner in El Paso County found this week that Geraldo Lunas Campos, a 55-year-old Cuban migrant held at a local Homeland Security detention camp, died of asphyxiation on Jan. 3—a homicide. Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) initially said Campos died after staff "observed him in distress." The Washington Post reported witness testimony that camp guards had choked him to death.
The homicide finding adds to intensifying controversy over deaths involving ICE, following the fatal shooting of Renee Good, 37, by an ICE officer in Minneapolis.
The UN's Türk said that individuals are being detained "sometimes violently" at hospitals, places of worship, schools, and homes, "often solely on mere suspicion of being undocumented migrants." He noted that children are missing school and medical appointments out of fear of family separation.
"States have the authority to establish their national migration policies, but this needs to be carried out in full accordance with the law," Türk said. "Adhering to due process is crucial to the legality and legitimacy of any policy."
Türk's statement comes amid declining public support for ICE. A New York Times/Siena University poll of 1,625 registered voters conducted Jan. 12-17 found that 61% of voters believe ICE tactics have "gone too far," including 71% of independents and 19% of Republicans. Across the political spectrum, just 26% of voters thought the enforcement tactics used by ICE were "about right."
In his statement, Türk also called for an independent investigation into deaths in ICE custody, adding that 30 people are reported to have died in the agency's custody since President Donald Trump took office for his second term on Jan. 20, 2025. This marks the highest figure since 2004, and there have already been a further six deaths reported in ICE custody so far this year.
The ICE detainee death reporting website lists only 18 deaths for fiscal year 2025, which ended Sept. 30, but the page has not been updated since October and does not yet include figures for fiscal year 2026. More than 65,000 people are currently in ICE custody, a two-thirds jump since Trump took office. This figure includes 1,700 children, and reports of harsh conditions include contaminated food, limited access to clean drinking water, and inadequate medical care.
Democratic lawmakers sent a letter to Noem on Dec. 22 demanding answers about what they called a "callous disregard for human life" by Homeland Security, the federal department that oversees ICE. The letter, signed by 13 House members led by Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, the ranking member of the Homeland Security Committee, counted 53 total deaths in ICE or Customs & Border Protection (CBP) custody since Trump took office. It also alleged that Homeland Security attempted to deport two witnesses to Campos’ death while the investigation remained open. Homeland Security maintains that Campos attempted to take his own life and resisted staff who intervened. Lawmakers demanded documentation on all custody deaths, medical staffing levels, and mental health screening protocols by Feb. 5.
From JURIST, Jan. 23. Used with permission. Internal links added.
Democrats split over ICE funding
A small band of "moderate" House Democrats teamed with Republicans Dec. 22 to pass a bill to fund the Homeland Security Department, overcoming a revolt by most Democrats furious about ICE's aggressive operations in Minneapolis and other cities. The vote was 220-207, with seven Democrats breaking with their party and voting yes. (NBC News)
Judge orders release of five-year-old detained by ICE
On Jan. 31, United States District Judge Fred Biery ruled that five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father must be released from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody.
Judge Biery in his ruling wrote:
After citing Thomas Jefferson and the Fourth Amendment, Biery ruled to grant the father and son habeas corpus, or judicial review of one's detention, and their release pending review.
Liam and his father were detained by ICE on Jan. 20 in the Minneapolis suburb of Columbia Heights. Columbia Heights public schools superintendent Zena Stenvik told reporters that ICE agents took the child from a running car before having him knock on his family home’s front door, "essentially using a 5-year-old as bait."
Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Homeland Security, posted on X that ICE did not "arrest a child or use a child as bait." McLaughlin claimed that the child was abandoned by his parents and that ICE agents followed guidelines used by previous administrations to ask parents if "they want to be removed with their children, or ICE will place the children with a safe person the parent designates." (Sic)
The five-year-old was later moved to a detention facility in Texas. ICE has apparently applied this tactic multiple times during its operations in Minnesota. According to attorney Irina Vaynerman, her client Elvis Joel Tipan Echeverria and his two-year-old daughter were pulled from their car by ICE agents and then put on a flight to Texas within eight hours of their detention. Vaynerman stated: "They’re doing that in order to evade the reach of the federal district court in Minnesota." (Jurist)
Judge blocks limits on ICE detention facility inspections
A federal judge on Feb. 2 blocked the Trump administration for a second time from enforcing a policy requiring members of Congress to give seven days' notice before visiting immigration detention facilities, finding the government's revised restriction still likely violates federal law.
US District Judge Jia M. Cobb granted a temporary restraining order sought by 14 House Democrats who sued to challenge the policy.
Federal law passed annually since 2019 has prohibited the Department of Homeland Security from using appropriated funds to block lawmakers from conducting unannounced oversight visits to immigration detention facilities. Congress enacted the provision after lawmakers were repeatedly blocked from entering detention facilities in 2018 while trying to investigate conditions during the first Trump administration’s family separation policy.
Despite that restriction, ICE began requiring seven days' notice last June. A group of House Democrats sued, and Cobb stayed the policy in December, finding the notice requirement "prevents" congressional oversight. The administration reimposed the same requirement three weeks later, with Noem claiming it would be funded exclusively through a reconciliation bill not subject to the restriction.
Lawmakers only discovered the new policy existed after three Minnesota representatives were denied entry on Jan. 10 to a federal building outside Minneapolis where detainees were being held. The representatives had sought to investigate conditions at the facility amid a massive immigration crackdown in the Twin Cities, during which federal agents fatally shot two US citizens: Renee Good on Jan. 7 and Alex Pretti on Jan. 24.
Following this week's ruling, the plaintiffs issued a joint statement in which they described the Trump administration's immigration opacity as an "affront to the rule of law," saying:
The judge found evidence that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's attempt to fund the policy exclusively through reconciliation act money, rather than annual appropriations subject to the congressional oversight restriction, was likely inadequate.
The restraining order expires in 14 days. Additional briefing is due Feb. 11, according to court documents. (Jurist)
DoJ rule on immigration appeals draws due process concerns
The Department of Justice issued an interim final rule (IFR) on Feb. 6, granting the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) expanded discretion to decline review of certain immigration cases, a move that has prompted immediate concerns about due process rights from immigration advocates. (Jurist)