Immigration Justice:
Research Briefing
The human cost of mass immigration enforcement in 2026 is measured in deaths, disease outbreaks, and the systematic stripping of legal protections from hundreds of thousands of people. At least 17 people have died in ICE custody so far in 2026 — following 31 deaths in 2025, the highest annual total in nearly two decades — making this fiscal year on track to be the deadliest since 2004. Measles outbreaks have swept through overcrowded detention facilities in Arizona and Texas. The administration has terminated or moved to terminate Temporary Protected Status for over 1 million people from 13 countries, with the Supreme Court set to hear arguments on Haiti and Syria TPS in late April. Meanwhile, 121 pregnant, postpartum, and nursing individuals were being held in detention as of February 2026, with reports of excessive restraints, inadequate prenatal care, and attempted deportation of a woman in late-term high-risk pregnancy. The detention system’s medical payment infrastructure itself collapsed when the VA terminated its claims processing agreement, leaving contractor reimbursements in limbo.
Deaths in Detention: Deadliest Year on Record
46 Deaths Since Trump Took Office; 2026 on Track to Be Deadliest Year Since 2004
As of March 18, 2026, ICE reported 46 people had died in their custody since the start of the second Trump administration — 31 in 2025 (the highest in over two decades) and at least 15 by mid-March 2026. Twenty-three people have died since October alone, already surpassing the entire prior fiscal year. Causes include medical complications from chronic illnesses, suicides, and at least one case ruled a homicide by the El Paso County Medical Examiner despite ICE reporting it as a suicide. ICE’s death reporting site had significant lags in updating numbers.
January 2026: 6 Detention Deaths and 2 Fatal Shootings in a Single Month
January 2026 saw eight deaths tied to ICE: six in detention facilities across Texas, Pennsylvania, Georgia, and California, plus two fatal shootings by DHS officers in Minneapolis (Renee Nicole Good, 37, mother of three; and Alex Pretti, 37). Those who died in detention included a 68-year-old Honduran father who had lived in the U.S. for 26 years, a 46-year-old Cambodian man who came to the U.S. at age two, and a 55-year-old Cuban father at Camp East Montana whose death was later ruled a homicide by local authorities.
Medical Payment System Collapses After VA Terminates Claims Processing Agreement
ICE payments to medical care contractors lapsed after the Department of Veterans Affairs terminated a longstanding agreement to process medical reimbursement claims in October 2025. The new claims system may not be active until April 2026, leaving months of medical care potentially unreimbursed and creating uncertainty about whether contractors will continue providing services. This infrastructure failure coincides with the system’s rapid expansion to over 60,000 detainees.
Detention Conditions: Overcrowding, Disease & Abuse
Measles Outbreaks Sweep Overcrowded Detention Facilities in Arizona and Texas
Confirmed measles cases appeared at the Florence Detention Center in Arizona, the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in Texas (which houses families), and Camp East Montana in Texas (which has also had three deaths). Overcrowding and delays in providing vaccinations contributed to the outbreaks. The rapid scaling of detention — from 39,000 in December 2024 to over 68,000 by February 2026 — has outpaced the health infrastructure’s capacity to prevent communicable disease transmission.
121 Pregnant, Postpartum, and Nursing Individuals Detained; Reports of Excessive Restraints
Despite ICE policy limiting detention of pregnant individuals to “very limited circumstances,” 121 pregnant, postpartum, and nursing individuals were detained as of February 2026. Interviews by legal organizations documented excessive bodily restraints, inadequate nutrition and prenatal care, delayed emergency care, and an instance where ICE attempted to deport an individual in a late-term, high-risk pregnancy. This represents a sharp reversal from Biden-era practice where most were released on parole.
Tent Camps and Squalid Conditions: Detainees Held Without Blankets, Pillows, or Sanitary Products
For the first time, thousands of immigrants arrested in the interior are being held in hastily-constructed tent camps with brutal conditions. The Pablo Sequen lawsuit documented overcrowding, absence of basic items including blankets, pillows, and sanitary products, medical neglect, and barriers to legal counsel at ICE’s San Francisco holding facility. ICE waived its 12-hour temporary holding cell limit, allowing detention up to 72 hours in cells designed for processing, not habitation. A federal judge ordered ICE to improve conditions.
Stripping Legal Protections: TPS Terminations
TPS Terminated or Targeted for Over 1 Million People from 13 Countries
The Trump administration has terminated or announced intent to terminate TPS for over 1 million of the approximately 1.3 million TPS holders in the United States, including people from Venezuela (600,000+), Haiti (330,000+), Honduras (50,000+), Nicaragua, Nepal, Afghanistan, Cameroon, South Sudan, Burma, Ethiopia, Somalia, and Yemen. Federal courts have blocked several terminations, and the Supreme Court will hear arguments on Haiti and Syria TPS in late April 2026, with a decision expected by July.
Yemen TPS Ended Despite Ongoing War; $2,600 “Exit Bonus” Offered for Self-Deportation
DHS Secretary Noem terminated TPS for approximately 1,400 Yemeni nationals, determining that Yemen “no longer meets the law’s requirements” despite the country’s ongoing armed conflict. Beneficiaries were given 60 days to voluntarily depart or face arrest, and offered a complimentary plane ticket and a $2,600 “exit bonus” for self-deportation. Yemen remains one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, with over 21 million people in need of assistance according to the UN.
Supreme Court to Hear Haiti and Syria TPS Cases in April; Decision Could Affect All Terminations
The Supreme Court announced it will hear expedited oral arguments on whether the administration can terminate TPS for Syria and Haiti during the week of April 27, with a decision expected by early July. The cases could establish whether courts have authority to review TPS termination decisions or whether the executive branch has unreviewable discretion. Multiple lower courts have blocked terminations, but the Supreme Court previously issued an unsigned order allowing some to proceed. The outcome will likely affect all pending and future TPS terminations.
System-Wide Accountability Failures
ICE Terminates Contract with Inexperienced Operator of Largest Detention Facility
ICE terminated the contract with a private company operating a Texas detention facility in March 2026 after reports indicated the company had no prior experience in detention operations and had been selected to build and operate the largest ICE facility. Reports documented inadequate health care at the facility. The contract termination came after at least three deaths at the facility, raising questions about how the company was selected and what oversight was applied during its operation.
ICE Death Reporting: Euphemisms, Delays, and Disputed Causes
Under the second Trump administration, ICE shifted its death reporting to narrative-style press releases using euphemisms like “passes away” instead of “died,” with dehumanizing titles like “Career criminal, illegal alien in ICE custody passes away.” ICE regularly “releases” individuals from custody shortly before death to avoid counting them in official statistics. The ACLU filed suit in 2021 over this practice. In at least one 2026 case, the local medical examiner ruled a death a homicide while ICE reported it as suicide, creating a direct factual dispute between government agencies.
Refugee Admissions Set at Record Low 7,500; Priority Given to White South Africans
The administration set a limit of 7,500 refugees for FY2026, a record low and a dramatic reduction from the Biden administration’s 125,000 cap. Priority was given to Afrikaners — white South Africans — described as “victims of illegal or unjust discrimination,” along with “other victims of illegal or unjust discrimination in their respective homelands.” The prioritization of a racial group within the refugee program, combined with travel bans targeting primarily Muslim-majority and African nations, raises questions about discriminatory intent.
The state of Article 25 rights for immigrants in the United States in April 2026 is defined by a cascading failure of the systems meant to protect the most basic conditions for human life. The detention system is killing people at a rate not seen in two decades — 46 deaths since January 2025, with 2026 on pace to exceed even that record. Measles is spreading through overcrowded facilities housing families. Pregnant women are being restrained and denied prenatal care. The medical payment system has collapsed. And over 1 million people are being stripped of their legal protections through TPS terminations, with the Supreme Court set to determine in weeks whether any judicial check on these decisions will survive.
The tent camps represent a new category of Article 25 violation. When people arrested in their communities — not at the border, but in their neighborhoods, workplaces, and courthouses — are held in hastily-constructed facilities without blankets, pillows, or sanitary products, the conditions of civil immigration detention have fallen below the standards of criminal incarceration. That a federal judge had to order the government to provide basic necessities at its San Francisco holding facility illustrates how far the system has departed from any framework of rights compliance.
The TPS terminations represent the wholesale removal of the safety net for people fleeing the world’s worst crises. When the government declares that Yemen — a country where 21 million people need humanitarian assistance — “no longer meets requirements” for protection, and offers $2,600 to leave, it has transformed Article 25’s guarantee of security into a buyout. The Supreme Court’s decision on Haiti and Syria TPS will determine whether this executive power has any legal boundary or whether the right to protection from deportation to crisis zones is entirely at presidential discretion.
Perhaps most disturbing is the system’s approach to its own failures. ICE uses euphemisms in death reports, “releases” people from custody before they die to avoid counting them, and in at least one case reported a death as suicide when the medical examiner ruled it homicide. An inexperienced company was awarded the largest detention facility contract, and the contract was terminated only after multiple deaths. When the institutions responsible for protecting Article 25 rights are designed to minimize evidence of their own failures, the right exists only on paper.
- KFF — Deaths and Health Care Issues in ICE Detention
kff.org/racial-equity-and-health-policy/deaths-and-health-care-issues… - NPR — Immigration Detention on Track for Deadliest Year
npr.org/2026/03/10/g-s1-111238/immigration-detention-deaths-custody - AIC — 6 Deaths and 2 Fatal Shootings in January
americanimmigrationcouncil.org/blog/ice-deaths-shootings-2026/ - American Bazaar — 17 Deaths in 2026
americanbazaaronline.com/2026/04/19/ice-custody-deaths-count… - AILA — Deaths at Adult Detention Centers
aila.org/library/deaths-at-adult-detention-centers - AIC — TPS Overview
americanimmigrationcouncil.org/fact-sheet/temporary-protected-status… - National Immigration Forum — TPS Fact Sheet
forumtogether.org/article/temporary-protected-status-fact-sheet/ - Al Jazeera — Yemen TPS Terminated
aljazeera.com/news/2026/2/14/us-ends-temporary-protected-status… - ASAP Together — TPS Updates by Country
asaptogether.org/en/temporary-protected-status/ - AIC — Detention System Report 2026
americanimmigrationcouncil.org/press-release/report-trump-immigration… - Axios — TPS Terminations & Refugee Cap
axios.com/2025/11/24/trump-immigration-temporary-protected-status… - IRC — Behind the Headlines: TPS
rescue.org/article/behind-headlines-temporary-protected-status