Nine people have died while in ICE custody since President Donald Trump took office, the agency’s acting director testified on Wednesday.
Todd Lyons, acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), confirmed the fatalities during a House Appropriations Committee hearing, stating, “We do conduct a thorough investigation on all of those. ICE, as I’ve said, is dedicated to transparency.”
However, ICE’s own website only listed seven deaths for this fiscal year as of Thursday. Lyons assured lawmakers that the website would be updated to reflect the correct numbers as required by Congress.
The deaths reported in ICE custody come amid a mounting crisis of overcrowding. Despite being funded for just 41,500 detention beds in the 2024 fiscal year, ICE had more than 52,000 people in custody as of last week, according to Rep. Lauren Underwood (D-Ill.).
“You are maybe one to two months away from running out of funds to support this current level of operations,” Underwood warned Lyons.
Lyons denied that ICE would run out of funds, stating that the agency is “working within our means” while expecting additional federal funding. He also confirmed ICE had requested $312.5 million in redirected federal funds to create 60,000 additional beds by the end of the year, with plans to eventually reach 100,000 beds.
But when Rep. Mark Amodei (R-Nev.) asked whether the additional funding would still leave ICE with a budget shortfall, Lyons failed to give a direct answer.
“I can promise the community, and I can guarantee that we’re going to financially work within our means to ensure that we do not have a shortfall,” Lyons responded.
Lyons’ statement came after ICE had earlier warned Congress of a nearly $2 billion budget shortfall for the agency, adding to concerns over its capacity to handle the growing number of detainees.
Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-Texas) sharply criticized the Trump administration’s immigration policies, saying they have put a dangerous strain on ICE’s resources and contributed to the deaths in custody.
“What we’ve seen in the Trump administration should send chills down the spine of every American,” Escobar said. “The fact is that the administration is not focusing on the worst of the worst, as it claims.”
She pointed out that ICE has detained individuals who pose no threat to the public, including students with green cards, immigrants with legal status, and those with no criminal history. Many of the detention centers are severely overcrowded, with detainees lacking access to basic needs like water, toilets, and proper medical care.
The most recent death recorded by ICE involved a 27-year-old Colombian man who died in April after suffering health problems in custody. ICE records show that his mental health appointments had been delayed twice, once due to staffing issues.
With these nine deaths adding to the growing crisis, lawmakers are calling for immediate reform in how ICE operates and handles detainees’ safety and well-being. The agency’s struggle to manage overcrowding and an increasingly strained budget is leaving both detainees and lawmakers concerned for the future.
