DHS watchdog announces new ICE reviews

WASHINGTON — The watchdog for the Department of Homeland Security announced on Thursday that its office is launching two new reviews related to Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s handling of detained migrants, according to a new announcement on the inspector general’s website.

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One of the reviews will examine an increase in deaths of ICE detainees, and the other will look into whether ICE facilities are abiding by proper use of force standards when interacting with detainees.

The two new reviews follow an increase in deaths among migrants in ICE detention, including the death of a detainee who at Camp East Montana in El Paso, Tex. earlier this year that was ruled a homicide and is under investigation by the FBI, according to DHS.

As of this week there have been 20 deaths in ICE detention in 2026, according to ICE. Last year there were 33 deaths in the entire year, according to the agency. In 2024, the agency announced 11 deaths, according to the agency’s website.

Earlier Thursday, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin was asked about the “historically high death rate” in ICE detention by Rep. Lauren Underwood, D-IL, at a House Appropriations Committee hearing.

Mullin rejected the notion of a high death rate, saying of Underwood’s line of questioning, “Those are dangerous accusations that she’s making, because in the state of Illinois, they’re twice as high to die in a state penitentiary in Illinois, than they are in ICE detention.”

The DHS Inspector General wrote in the announcement of the new reviews that the reason for the one focused on detainee deaths is because there has been an increase in ICE detainee deaths each fiscal year since 2022.

The IG will examine “whether systemic factors, policies, or processes contributed to detainee deaths” for the timeframe from Oct. 1, 2021 through March 31, 2026.

DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

ICE recently changed its policy on publicizing detainee deaths.

Instead of reporting any detainee death that occurs in detention centers or within 30 days of the detainees’ release, ICE will now only report deaths that occur as long as the detainee is in physical custody. That means the agency no longer documents detainees who become ill in detention and go to the hospital and die. In 2026 at least eleven ICE detainees died at hospitals according to ICE data.

Mullin was also asked Thursday about the new death notification policy and said reporting deaths of detainees who have left custody “doesn’t make any sense” noting that those detainees are “not under our watch at that point.”

ICE announced the latest detainee death earlier this week. A 63-year-old man named Felix Alcorta -Rodriguez from Mexico died at the Webb County Detention Center in Laredo, Texas. The cause of death is currently pending an autopsy according to ICE.

The new use of force review by the IG follows a recent DHS IG report describing two violations of use of force at a detention center in Louisiana: a prohibited chokehold and a guard who used a pen to stab a detainee who would not close the door to their cell.