Disclaimer: This article mentions suicide. Reader discretion is advised.
The Department of Homeland Security is pushing back on accusations that there has been a significant spike in deaths among illegal aliens in ICE custody under the Donald Trump administration.
Axios reported on Tuesday, January 20, that at least 31 people died in ICE custody in 2025. Not only is that the most deaths in ICE custody since 18 people died in 2019, but Axios also claimed it was the highest total since 2003.
DHS refuted those claims on Wednesday morning, accusing Axios of “trying to twist data.” According to DHS, death rates in custody are 0.00007%, which they say is consistent with data over the last decade.
“As bed space has expanded, we have maintained higher standard of care than most prisons that hold U.S. citizens — including providing access to proper medical care,” DHS wrote on X. “For many illegal aliens, this is the best healthcare they have received their entire lives.”
Yet again, the media is trying to twist data to smear ICE law enforcement. There has been NO spikes in deaths.
Consistent with data over the last decade, death rates in custody are 0.00007%.
As bed space has expanded, we have maintained higher standard of care than most prisons… https://t.co/qOdE5l81yR
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) January 21, 2026
Axios had not publicly responded to DHS as of publication. Trump, who is in Switzerland, had not addressed Axios’ claims.
Three undocumented aliens have died at Camp East Montana on Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, since the start of December. ICE said that the most recent detainee to die, Victor Manuel Diaz, passed away in what they believe was a suicide. The 36-year-old, who was originally from Nicaragua, was pronounced dead on Wednesday, January 14.
ICE previously announced the deaths of 48-year-old Francisco Gaspar-Andres and 55-year-old Geraldo Lunas Campos. Gaspar-Andres, who was from Guatemala, died on Dec. 3 of what medical staff believed was natural liver and kidney failure. He died at The Hospitals of Providence East in El Paso, while Diaz and Lunas died in custody.
ICE characterized Lunas’ death, which occurred on Jan. 3, as “medical distress.” No further information was available at publication.
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem announced on Tuesday that nearly three million illegal aliens have left the United States since Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20, 2025. That reportedly includes an estimated 2.2 million self-deportations and more than 675,000 deportations.
In President Trump’s first year back in office, nearly 3 million illegal aliens have left the U.S. because of the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration, including an estimated 2.2 million self-deportations and more than 675,000 deportations.
In the last year,… https://t.co/SuGsiqcKbG
— Kristi Noem (@KristiNoem) January 20, 2026
Noem also claimed that DHS has saved taxpayers over $13.2 billion in the last year.
“Countless lives have been saved, communities have been strengthened, and the American people have been put first again,” Noem said.
DHS and ICE have remained busy to start the new year. Noem reported that over 3,000 criminal illegal aliens have been arrested in Minnesota since Operation Metro Surge began in December, and over 10,000 criminal illegal migrants have been apprehended in Minnesota over the last year.
The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline offers live calling and texting at 988 and also has live chatting on its website.
