Twenty people have died in ICE custody so far this year. At the current pace, 2026 is on track to set an annual record for deaths in immigration detention.

The death of Geraldo Lunas Campos at Camp East Montana on January 3rd shows how these deaths can happen. An autopsy by the El Paso County Medical Examiner ruled his death a homicide, caused by compression to his neck and torso. A witness says he was choked by guards. DHS says staff were trying to prevent a suicide attempt. The FBI is investigating.

What is not in dispute is what led up to that day. According to medical records reviewed by the Washington Post, Lunas Campos suffered from bipolar disorder and anxiety. He complained repeatedly that he was not receiving his medication. He expressed suicidal thoughts to staff. Three months before he died, guards found him with a sheet tied around his neck. Staff discussed transferring him to a higher level of mental health care. They never did. He went four days without his medications in November. The day he died, his cellmate says staff refused his requests for medication multiple times.

This is not a story about one man. It is a story about a detention system that documented a person's deterioration and failed to act. It is a story about private contractors running federal facilities with minimal public accountability. And it is a story about a government that declines to answer basic questions when someone dies in its custody.

Twenty deaths. No independent oversight. No mandatory mental health standards. No requirement that the public be told what happened.

We call on Congress and the Department of Homeland Security to:

• Mandate independent investigations for all deaths in ICE custody, with findings made public
• Establish minimum mental health care standards across all immigration detention facilities, including those run by private contractors
• Require that detainees with serious mental illness be transferred to appropriate care settings, as federal standards already recommend
• Create a permanent independent oversight body for immigration detention with authority to inspect, report, and enforce

Twenty people have died this year. Sign to demand the accountability that could prevent the next death.