Published on: Friday, August 7, 2020

Two people in custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement died this week, bringing the death toll so far this year to 17 ― the highest since 2006, article available here.

ICE said Thursday that Taiwanese national Kuan Hui Lee, 51, died Wednesday afternoon at the Kendall Regional Medical Center in Florida after he was diagnosed with what the agency said was a "massive intercranial hemorrhage." He entered ICE custody on Jan. 24 after overstaying his temporary visa status. The agency announced Friday that James Hill, a 72-year-old man from Canada, died late Thursday night at a Virginia hospital, where he had been receiving treatment for several weeks. The spokesperson declined to specify a cause of death, though noted Hill had tested positive for COVID-19. Hill was hospitalized on July 10 after reporting shortness of breath.

Farmville has 290 confirmed COVID-19 cases, the second highest of all ICE facilities. There are currently 917 confirmed positive cases in the system overall ― and that’s almost assuredly an undercount. Emails obtained by The Los Angeles Times last month show ICE has deliberately limited COVID-19 testing in at least one California facility. Staff there feared it would be too difficult to quarantine those who tested positive, so they pushed back on carrying out the tests.

The 2020 deaths are more than double the total from 2019 for the U.S. government’s fiscal year ending Sept. 30. Eight people died while in immigrant detention last year. "Many of these deaths were avoidable, unnecessary, and a direct result of the Trump administration's refusal to take basic steps to protect the health and safety of detainees," John Sandweg, a former ICE director during the Obama administration, told BuzzFeed News.