͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
͏
At least 6 people have died in ICE custody just three weeks into 2026.^1
A medical examiner is likely to rule one death a homicide, with a witness
reporting guards strangling a man at the Camp East Montana prison.^2
32 people died in ICE custody last year, the most in over two decades.^3
Less than a month into 2026, Trump’s ICE is topping that horrifying record
pace.
At just one tent prison, Camp East Montana, three people died over a
period of less than two months.^4 Human rights groups have documented a
“disturbing pattern of abuses, including beatings and sexual abuse by
officers, medical neglect, hunger and insufficient food” at Camp East
Montana.^5 Lawmakers called Trump’s Alligator Alcatraz an “internment
camp” and described people packed into makeshift cells with their only
drinking water coming from the toilets.^6
Demand Progress has sent hundreds of thousands of messages demanding that
Congress holds ICE accountable for this network of lawless torture
prisons. Congress must take urgent action to investigate detention
centers, end the abuses, and shut down prisons like Camp East Montana and
Alligator Alcatraz.
[ [link removed] ]Will you make a donation to help support our work, including our efforts
to investigate and close deadly ICE prisons?
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ICE is holding a record 68,000+ people in its dangerous, abusive detention
centers.^7
The crisis extends far beyond just Camp East Montana and Alligator
Alcatraz. Human Rights Watch, the ACLU, and other human rights groups have
documented hellish conditions at facilities in Florida, Pennsylvania,
Illinois, and other states.
Senator Jon Ossoff reported on hundreds of human rights abuses at
immigrant prisons nationwide, including the widespread mistreatment of
pregnant detainees and children.^8
After an ICE agent murdered Renee Good in Minneapolis, Homeland Security
Secretary Kristi Noem quietly signed an order barring congressional
oversight visits to ICE facilities without a week’s notice.^9 Since then,
U.S. lawmakers including Reps. Ilhan Omar, Angie Craig, Kelly Morrison,
and many others have been prevented from entering ICE buildings.^10
ICE is trying to hide their abuses from the public.
We are ramping up our campaign to hold ICE accountable for these horrors
and end the suffering in Trump’s immigrant prisons.
[ [link removed] ]Will you donate today to support our work, including our fight to shut
down ICE’s network of torture prisons?
With gratitude,
The team at Demand Progress Action
[ [link removed] ]DONATE
Sources:
1. The Appeal, "Deaths in Detention Warn of Horrors Behind ICE’s Prison
Walls," [ [link removed] ]January 17, 2026.
2. The Washington Post, "Medical examiner likely to classify ICE detainee
death as homicide, call says," [ [link removed] ]January 15, 2026.
3. The Guardian, "2025 was ICE’s deadliest year in two decades. Here are
the 32 people who died in custody," [ [link removed] ]January 4, 2026.
4. Common Dreams, "Investigation Demanded as ICE Reports Third Death at
Texas Detention Center in 44 Days," [ [link removed] ]January 19, 2026.
5. ACLU, "ACLU Renews Calls for Closure of Camp East Montana Following
Reports that Detained Immigrant Was Choked to Death by ICE Officer,"
[ [link removed] ]January 16, 2026.
6. USA Today, "'Help me!' Democrats decry 'vile' conditions at 'Alligator
Alcatraz' immigrant prison," [ [link removed] ]July 14, 2025.
7. The Guardian, "Number of people in ICE detention hits record high,
data shows," [ [link removed] ]December 22, 2025.
8. NBC News, "Hundreds of alleged human rights abuses in immigrant
detention, report finds," [ [link removed] ]August 5, 2025.
9. Kyle Cheney on X, "BREAKING: A day after the Minneapolis shooting,
Secretary Noem quietly signed a new policy barring congressional
visits to ICE facilities without a week's advance notice..."
[ [link removed] ]January 10, 2026.
10. Axios, "Ilhan Omar and other Democrats blocked from ICE visit after
Minneapolis shooting," [ [link removed] ]January 10, 2026.
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