Suicides in ICE detention hit two-decade high

The number of immigrants dying by suicide in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention has climbed to its worst point in at least 20 years, with five confirmed deaths in 2026 alone and the year’s midpoint still weeks away.

Since the start of 2025, nine men aged 19 to 45 in ICE custody have taken their own lives. Those deaths contrast sharply with the two suicides recorded across the entire Biden administration, a period when the detained population was significantly smaller and with average stays also shorter.

Beyond the fatalities, call logs obtained by NBC from emergency services in six of the jurisdictions surrounding the country’s 16 largest detention centers captured over 1,000 self-inflicted injury incidents in the past year. For instance, a March 2025 federal inspection of Stewart Detention Center in Georgia found that staff had not completed mandatory suicide prevention training and that welfare checks on at-risk detainees had stretched to as long as 125 minutes in some cases, eight times the required frequency.

Federal officials have disputed the severity of the situation. A DHS spokesperson reportedly cites an in-custody death rate of 0.009% as of April 30 and contends its standards exceed those of most American correctional facilities. Meanwhile, ICE maintains that clinicians control suicide watch decisions and that 15-minute welfare checks are enforced. Still, a senior DHS official anonymously told NBC that no fresh directives have been issued to address the pattern.

The uncertainty of an immigrant’s fate under ICE extends across nationalities, and Asian detainees have not been spared. Tuan Van Bui, 55, a Vietnamese immigrant who entered the U.S. through a visa program established for Amerasian children, died April 1 at Indiana’s Miami Correctional Facility. This is the same institution where Lorth Sim, 59, a Cambodian lawful permanent resident, had died roughly six weeks earlier after being found unresponsive in his cell and later determined to have died of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.

At least six Asian nationals have now died in ICE custody in recent years. Advocates warn that limited English proficiency leaves Asian detainees especially vulnerable, making it harder to report medical emergencies or understand their legal situations.