Immigration and Customs Enforcement is quietly rolling back how it tracks deaths connected to its custody, and critics say the timing could not be worse. The agency announced this week that it will stop reporting deaths that occur after people leave ICE custody, shelving a Biden-era rule that required the government to track and review deaths within 30 days of release.
The Washington Post first reported the policy change, citing an internal memo from acting ICE director David Venturella that told staff the 30-day post-release reporting requirement was being eliminated. The Department of Homeland Security later confirmed the shift in an emailed statement, calling the move "common sense" and stressing that ICE will still report deaths that occur while individuals remain in custody, according to The Washington Post.
The change unwinds a 2021 Biden-era policy that required ICE to notify Congress and investigate any death occurring within 30 days of a detainee's release, a safeguard designed to keep the agency from dodging accountability by discharging seriously ill people, according to AP News. ICE had not immediately posted the full updated policy.
Experts And Advocates Raise Alarms
Public-health researchers and former detention medical officials say the rollback is less a paperwork tweak and more a recipe for undercounting deaths without improving care. "The period immediately following release is when deaths attributable to inadequate care become apparent," and the policy will "make the mortality statistics appear lower," said Dr. Sanjay Basu. Dr. Homer Venters called scrapping post-release reporting "a willful act of ignoring the most serious health outcome," according to AP News.
Numbers And Context
The shift comes as deaths in ICE custody are climbing, not falling. UCLA Law’s Behind Bars Data Project counted 31 deaths in 2025, the highest toll since 2004, and CBS News has reported at least 18 detainee deaths already in early 2026. Independent trackers also show ICE's detained population swelling to roughly 60,311 on April 4, 2026, putting additional strain on already stretched medical resources, according to TRAC Reports.
What Lawmakers Are Doing
Members of Congress, already alarmed by the rising death count, have been pressing DHS for answers and new oversight tools. Representatives Dave Min and Ayanna Pressley introduced the DHS Use of Force Transparency Act to require production of records related to injuries and deaths under DHS authority, according to Rep. Min’s office. Separately, Rep. Gabe Vasquez and other lawmakers have pushed for immediate transparency on recent fatalities, per Rep. Vasquez’s office.
What Comes Next
Advocates and family members argue that scrapping the 30-day rule erases a critical checkpoint for examining whether poor medical care inside detention contributed to deaths that occur shortly after release. Without that automatic review, they say, some of the worst outcomes may disappear into a statistical gray zone.
DHS and ICE insist they will continue timely notification and reporting for deaths that occur while people are held in custody, framing the move as a straightforward return to tracking only in-custody deaths, according to The Washington Post.
