Fourteen people have died in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody in 2026 — in under three months. The death toll is already on pace to far exceed 2025's 33 in-custody deaths, up from just 11 in 2024.

The most recent death: Jose Guadalupe Ramos-Solano, a Mexican national with documented diabetes, hypertension, and high cholesterol, found unresponsive at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center in California on March 25. The cause of his death has not been made public. Homeland Security has not answered basic questions.

This is a pattern. At the Fort Bliss detention facility in Texas, three detainees died in less than six weeks — one ruled a homicide. Tuberculosis and measles have broken out. Facilities are overcrowded, understaffed, and increasingly deadly.

We are calling on the Department of Homeland Security and Congress to launch an immediate independent investigation into every in-custody death in 2026, release the causes of death publicly, and hold those responsible accountable.

Photo: Stephen Smith/AP/AP