Pallone Leads 87 House Democrats Demanding Answers on 50+ Deaths in ICE Custody, Medical Care at Private Detention Centers

WASHINGTON, D.C. -Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr. (NJ-06), Ranking Member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, today led 87 House Democrats in demanding that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) account for deaths and medical-care failures across the nation's immigration detention system following the latest death connected to GEO Group-operated Delaney Hall in Newark, New Jersey. In a letter to DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin and ICE Acting Director David J. Venturella, the lawmakers cite more than 50 deaths in ICE custody since January 20, 2025, additional deaths shortly after individuals were released from custody, and more than 300 allegations of medical neglect across at least 33 states. The lawmakers point to reported failures at facilities operated by major private ICE contractors including GEO Group and CoreCivic and warn that "the federal government cannot outsource its responsibility to provide adequate medical care" while continuing to pay contractors when deficiencies in care put lives at risk.

"The federal government cannot outsource its responsibility to provide adequate medical care, nor can ICE continue paying private companies to detain people without holding those companies accountable when serious deficiencies in care put lives at risk," the members wrote. "If they cannot be operated in compliance with federal law and the Constitution, GEO Group, CoreCivic, and any other private contractors should not continue to profit from taxpayer dollars, and the detention centers must be closed."

Pallone and his colleagues are demanding a facility-by-facility accounting of deaths, serious medical emergencies, delays in medical treatment, interruptions in prescription medications, access to specialists and diagnostic testing, and medical and mental-health staffing since January 20, 2025. They are also asking ICE to identify individuals who were released or transferred after a serious medical emergency or while hospitalized and whether they subsequently died, following ICE's decision to stop requiring public reporting and congressional notification of deaths occurring within 30 days of release. The lawmakers are demanding ICE disclose which private companies provide medical care at each detention facility and how many medical-care violations have resulted in corrective actions, financial penalties, contract modifications or termination.

The letter can be found here and below:

Secretary Mullin and Acting Director Venturella,

As Members of the House of Representatives, we write with profound outrage following the latest death connected to Delaney Hall Immigration Detention Facility in Newark, New Jersey operated under a billion-dollar contract by GEO Group, a for-profit prison contractor. This tragic death is part of a broader and deeply troubling pattern of deaths occurring in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facilities across the country. More than 50 people have died in ICE custody since January 20, 2025, with additional deaths occurring shortly after individuals were released from ICE custody.[1] These deaths raise serious questions about the conditions in which individuals are being detained, the quality and timeliness of the medical care they receive, and whether ICE and its private detention center contractors are meeting their responsibilities to safeguard the health and well-being of people in their custody.

Detention should never be a death sentence. Yet reports from detention centers across the country have documented delayed and denied medical treatment, failures to provide necessary medications, inadequate treatment of chronic illnesses, insufficient mental health services, and dangerous delays in emergency care. More than 300 allegations of medical neglect have been identified in federal court filings involving individuals detained across at least 33 states. Detainees have reported going without medications for high blood pressure, diabetes, depression, epilepsy, Parkinson's disease, HIV, and other serious conditions, while requests for medical attention have gone unanswered for weeks as their conditions deteriorated.[2]

These concerns are particularly serious about facilities operated by GEO Group and CoreCivic, two of ICE's largest private detention contractors. The federal government cannot outsource its responsibility to provide adequate medical care, nor can ICE continue paying private companies to detain people without holding those companies accountable when serious deficiencies in care put lives at risk.

At GEO Group's Delaney Hall operations, detainees and their families have repeatedly reported difficulty obtaining medications and timely medical treatment.[3] Members of Congress have raised these concerns with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) repeatedly, and recent reporting has described seriously ill detainees being released from the facility while families and advocates continue to raise questions about the medical treatment they received while in custody.[4] ICE's subsequent decision to stop requiring public reporting and congressional notifications of deaths occurring within 30-days of release makes it even more difficult to determine whether inadequate medical care in federal custody contributed to these deaths.[5]

The concerns involving GEO Group are not limited to New Jersey. At GEO Group's Adelanto ICE Processing Center in California, a federal court recently ordered significant changes to conditions at the facility and required independent monitoring of medical care. The order followed allegations concerning inadequate medical treatment and other conditions that placed detainees at risk.[6] Taken together, the documented problems at Delaney Hall and other GEO-operated facilities demand federal oversight and accountability rather than continued acceptance of contractor assurances that adequate medical care is being provided.

Serious deficiencies have also been documented at facilities operated by CoreCivic. In February, cases of measles, a highly contagious virus that spreads in close quarters, occurred in two CoreCivic detention facilities in Arizona and Texas. Dozens of detainees at CoreCivic facilities have also complained of hours-long waits to see nurses, only to be turned away and told their conditions were not serious enough to warrant treatment. Detainees with injuries have reportedly waited days or even weeks for x-rays, while people with diabetes have struggled to receive regular access to insulin. Many detainees and their attorneys also reported denial of access to outside specialists, including oncologists and dentists. Even when detainees are able to see a doctor and receive a prescription, they are often forced to wait days or weeks for their medication to be provided.[7] Infectious disease outbreaks are particularly concerning in detention settings where overcrowing and inadequate access to medical care can place both detained individuals and surrounding communities at risk.

At CoreCivic's California City Detention Facility, these concerns have been substantiated through independent court oversight. A court-appointed medical monitor recently documented delays in medical assessments and treatment, missed medications, and inadequate follow-up care. The monitor concluded that the facility lacked a reliable system for consistently providing adequate health care and that these deficiencies placed detainees at risk of immediate and long-term harm.[8] A separate investigation by the California Department of Justice found that medical staffing at the facility had failed to keep pace with the growing detained population. At the time of the state's inspection, the facility reportedly had only one physician for nearly 1,000 detainees.[9]

Similar concerns have been identified regarding facilities operated by other major ICE contractors. At Winn Correctional Center in Louisiana, operated by LaSalle Corrections, two detainees died in less than two months this year. A federal inspection identified deficiencies involving medical care and medical recordkeeping, including failures to maintain updated treatment documents and laboratory testing records.[10] At the Buffalo Federal Detention Facility in New York, where ICE contracts with Akima Global Services, medical staffing shortages have contributed to significant delays in care. A 2025 DHS Inspector General inspection found that staffing shortages resulted in detainees waiting as long as five months for dental care.[11] At the Management & Training Corporation operated Imperial Regional Detention Facility in California, two detainees died over the past year amid concerns about access to medical care as the population increased. One death, at the detention center in Camp East Montana operated by Amentum Services Inc, was even ruled to be a homicide by a local medical examiner and the Government Accountability Office documented preventable deaths and medical neglect in the facility in a June 2026 report.[12]

These deaths cannot be viewed in isolation from the documented failures in medical care occurring throughout ICE's detention system. Delayed treatment, interruptions in prescription medications, inadequate medical and mental health staffing, failures to respond appropriately to serious medical conditions, and gaps in emergency and follow-up care have devastating and fatal consequences. DHS and ICE have an obligation to determine whether failures in medical care contributed to deaths in federal custody or shortly after release, make those findings available to Congress, and hold responsible officials and contractors accountable.

Federal standards of care require ICE detention facilities to provide timely and appropriate medical care to individuals in their custody. Under these standards, detainees must receive a physical examination and mental health screening within 14 days of arrival. Detention facilities must also have a physician available around the clock, and prescription medications and other necessary treatments must be provided in a timely manner.[13] Yet a recent investigation into ICE's detention oversight system found that facilities continue to receive high inspection ratings despite reports of serious medical and safety deficiencies, raising more concerns about whether ICE's inspection process is effectively identifying and correcting dangerous conditions.[14] The repeated reports of medical neglect across facilities operated by multiple private contractors raise fundamental questions about whether ICE is adequately enforcing its own requirements and what consequences, if any, contractors face when they fail to comply.

Accordingly, we request your response to the following:

1. Provide data on access to medical and mental health care provided to individuals in ICE custody since January 20, 2025, including the average time from intake to initial medical screening, comprehensive health assessment, receipt of prescribed medications, and the average response time for routine and urgent medical requests. Identify, by facility, the number of instances in which required medical evaluations or treatment were delayed and the length of those delays.

2. Provide, by facility, data on specialty medical care and diagnostic services, including the number of requests for outside specialists, diagnostic testing, and follow-up appointments; the number approved and denied; average wait times; and any current backlogs.

3. Describe in detail ICE's procedures for ensuring continuity of prescription medications, including medications prescribed before detention and time-sensitive medications such as insulin, HIV medications, seizure medications, psychiatric medications, anticoagulants, and transplant medications. For each facility, identify the number of documented medication interruptions, and any current backlogs in fulling or administering prescriptions.

4. Provide, by facility, data on serious medical emergencies in ICE custody since January 20, 2025, including hospitalizations, emergency-department visits, suicide attempts, overdoses, cardiac events, seizures, and other life-threatening incidents. Identify any instances in which treatment, transportation, or hospitalization was delayed and the length of the delay.

5. Provide the total number of deaths in ICE custody since January 20, 2025, including the facility, date, cause of death when known, and whether the death remains under investigation. How many deaths involved documented medical complaints or concerns about the adequacy or timeliness of medical care? Provide autopsy results and other records for every death in ICE custody, or an explanation of why an autopsy was not conducted.

6. Identify all individuals since January 20, 2025, who were released from ICE custody or transferred to another facility after experiencing a serious medical emergency or while hospitalized. For each individual, provide the facility and facility operator, date and reason for the release or transfer, the individual's medical condition at the time, and whether the individual subsequently died.

7. Describe ICE's mental health and suicide-prevention procedures, including screening requirements, suicide-watch policies, available interventions, and the number of individuals identified as being at risk of suicide since January 20, 2025.

8. Provide current medical staffing levels and vacancies at each ICE detention facility, including physicians, nurses, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, mental health professionals, dentists, and pharmacists. Are licensed medical professionals available onsite 24 hours a day at each facility?

9. Identify the private contractors responsible for providing medical, mental health, and pharmaceutical services at each ICE detention facility and describe how ICE monitors their performance. How many medical care violations have resulted in corrective actions, financial penalties, contract modifications, or contract termination since January 20, 2025?

10. Describe ICE's process for inspecting and enforcing compliance with applicable detention standards, including the number of medical-care deficiencies identified since January 20, 2025, the number that remain unresolved, and the corrective actions required.

11. What mechanisms are available to detained individuals and their attorneys to report inadequate medical care or violations of detention standards, and what protections are in place against retaliation?

12. What steps has ICE taken to address systemic concerns regarding medical care, medication access, staffing, serious medical emergencies, and deaths across its detention system, and what additional measures does the agency plan to implement?

13. Identify all ICE detention contracts executed, amended, or renewed since January 20, 2025, that include provisions stating or asserting that state or local laws, regulations, licensing requirements, inspections, or enforcement actions "shall not apply" to the detention facility. Why is ICE attempting to prevent state and local authorities from independently inspecting these facilities?

As Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security and Acting Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, you both have the authority and responsibility to address the serious deficiencies at these facilities. If they cannot be operated in compliance with federal law and the Constitution, GEO Group, CoreCivic, and any other private contractors should not continue to profit from taxpayer dollars, and the detention centers must be closed. We expect your prompt response no later than Tuesday, September 1st. As Members of Congress, we remain prepared to exercise our constitutional oversight authority to ensure that detainees are treated humanely and federal law is faithfully executed.

Pallone's letter was signed by 87 Members of Congress: Amo, Gabe; Barragán, Nanette; Brownley, Julia; Brown, Shontel; Carson, André; Carter, Troy; Casar, Greg; Castro, Joaquin; Chu, Judy; Clarke, Yvette; Conaway, Herbert; Costa, Jim; Courtney, Joe; Crockett, Jasmine; Crow, Jason; Davis, Danny; Dean, Madeleine; DeGette, Diana; DeSaulnier, Mark; Dexter, Maxine; Dingell, Debbie; Escobar, Veronica; Espaillat, Adriano; Foster, Bill; Frost, Maxwell; Garamendi, John; García, Jesús; Garcia, Robert; Garcia, Sylvia; Goldman, Daniel; Gomez, Jimmy; Green, Al; Grijalva, Adelita; Hayes, Jahana; Hernández, Pablo; Hoyle, Val; Huffman, Jared; Ivey, Glenn; Jacobs, Sara; Johnson, Henry; Kamlager-Dove, Sydney; Khanna, Ro; Krishnamoorthi, Raja; Leger Fernandez, Teresa; Lynch, Stephen; McIver, LaMonica; Mejia, Analilia; Menefee, Christian; Menendez, Robert; Meng, Grace; Morrison, Kelly; Moulton, Seth; Nadler, Jerrold; Neguse, Joe; Norcross, Donald; Norton, Eleanor; Ocasio-Cortez, Alexandria; Omar, Ilhan; Pallone, Frank; Pelosi, Nancy; Pettersen, Brittany; Pou, Nellie; Quigley, Mike; Ramirez, Delia; Randall, Emily; Rivas, Luz; Ruiz, Raul; Salinas, Andrea; Scanlon, Mary Gay; Schakowsky, Janice; Scott, Robert; Simon, Lateefah; Stansbury, Melanie; Thanedar, Shri; Titus, Dina; Tlaib, Rashida; Tonko, Paul; Torres, Norma; Torres, Ritchie; Tran, Derek; Underwood, Lauren; Vargas, Juan; Vasquez, Gabe; Walkinshaw, James; Waters, Maxine; Watson Coleman, Bonnie; Williams, Nikema; Wilson, Frederica.

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