18 Deaths. Zero Oversight Funding.
Eighteen people died in immigration detention this year. The Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman, the only independent oversight mechanism for detention conditions, has zero current funding. Congress created the office. Congress defunded it.
18 deaths. 94 of 124 lawsuits involved excessive force by corrections officers. 170 children held on an average day. The ombudsman has $0.
Ninety-four of 124 lawsuits filed between 2020 and 2024 involved excessive force by corrections officers. DHS inspectors found conditions so dangerous at Torrance County Detention Facility that they recommended closure. ICE ignored the recommendation and continued sending people there.
Detention Is Expanding Without Accountability
ICE held approximately 170 children on an average day in 2025, a six-fold increase from January. Six hundred children were placed in government shelters, the highest since recordkeeping began.
Congress allocated $170 billion to ICE and Border Patrol through 2029. The detention system is growing. The oversight system was eliminated.
Without an independent ombudsman, facilities that fail inspections face no binding consequences. Detained people and whistleblowers have fewer paths to force problems into the open.
What You Can Do
- Demand detention oversight →
- Ask your senators to fund the Immigration Detention Ombudsman in the next Homeland Security appropriations bill.
- Read the Immigration hub for the full picture.
Sources
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Watch: The Violent ICE Crackdown Comes to New Jersey — Mother Jones (2026-05-29, update)