2020 Death Toll In ICE Custody Is Highest In Fifteen Years

The death toll for people in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody grew dramatically this year (article available here). In the 2020 fiscal year, which ends today, 21 people died in ICE custody, according to a CNN tally of data released by the agency. That is more than double the eight deaths in fiscal year 2019 -- and the highest annual death toll since 2005.

More than a third of the people who died in ICE custody this year had tested positive for Covid-19 -- including a 56-year-old man from the Marshall Islands, who died in a Louisiana hospital, and a 61-year-old man from Mexico, who died in a Georgia hospital last week.