During Biden’s entire presidency, 26 people died in ICE custody, a number that Trump has nearly reached in only 10 months.
21 people have died while detained by ICE this year, the deadliest number since 2004 where 32 deaths were reported, however the death toll is steadily climbing.
Of the 21, five were Asian immigrants, two Vietnamese and three Chinese. A July report by the UCLA Asian-American Studies Centre found that arrests of Asian immigrants nearly tripled from under 700 in 2024 to almost 2,000 between February and May 2025, and among those arrested, the majority came from China, India and Vietnam.
Vietnamese citizen Nhon Ngoc Nguyen passed away on April 16 at a hospital in El Paso, Texas. At 55, Nguyen was living in Albuquerque, New Mexico when he was arrested by ICE officials in February of this year. He was transported between the hospitals and a detention facility until he ultimately died from natural causes, according to an ICE press release.
Following Nguyen’s death, protesters gathered in an Albuquerque park to bring light to immigrants’ rights.
Tin Nguyen, an attorney for the Nguyen family said an autopsy report showed he died of acute pneumonia, with dementia as a secondary cause. However, he said the family believes there was “some negligence” on the part of ICE, according to the Albuquerque Journal.
“We don’t know the details of what happened in his last days at the hospital,” he said. “I think there are a lot of questions that need to be answered in how ICE treats people who are sick.”
Three months later on July 19, another Vietnamese immigrant died in custody. Tien Xuan Phan was arrested on June 2, after failing to abide by a judge’s order to leave the U.S. in 2012. He was held in Karnes County Immigration Processing Center in Karnes City, Texas. The day prior to his death, Phan was taken to Otto Kaiser Memorial Hospital for seizures, vomiting and unresponsiveness. He was later airlifted to the Methodist Hospital Northeast where he was declared dead.
According to NBC, the facility Phan was held in has routinely exceeded its contractual capacity of 928, holding 1,311 detainees at one point since the start of the fiscal year.
On August 5, 32-year-old Chinese national Chaofeng Ge died in Philipsburg, Pennsylvania. ICE officials found him hanging in a shower stall with his arms and legs tied behind his back, according to Spectrum News.
ICE has not released the official reason for his death, saying it is still under investigation. However, his brother, Yangfeng Ge, filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, demanding accountability and answers.
His lawyer, David B. Rankin said the death looked “suspicious” and the family is trying to get answers.
All we have is an autopsy that has some information but just has these huge questions that we need answers to,” Rankin said.
The complaint alleged Ge was isolated in the facility with no one who could speak Chinese or who would try to communicate with him.
“There’s still so much left unknown about the circumstances of his death,” Yangfeng said to Spectrum News. “I don’t know how he could have had the opportunity to take his own life. What drove him to do so? But at least these things should not happen to people who are in the government’s custody.”
“He was the only family member that I had in this country, and I miss him dearly,” he continued.
On September 29, Chinese immigrant Huabing Xie died at El Centro Regional Medical Center from an apparent seizure. He was detained on September 12 in Indio, California by border patrol agents who transferred him to ICE custody the next day.
Amanda Díaz, Organizing Director with Freedom for Immigrants, said in a statement that they are “outraged that yet another life has needlessly been taken by the immigration detention system.”
“For decades, detention has been defined by ICE’s deadly medical neglect, resulting in premature and preventable deaths,” she wrote. “As the Trump administration expands detention to record heights, ICE is on track to record its deadliest year in history, with the agency already recording the highest number of deaths in the first six months of any year from January to June of this year.”
Less than a month later, Kai Yin Wong, a 63-year-old immigrant from China passed away on October 25 in San Antonio, Texas, due to “suspected complications following heart surgery.”
Marcela Hernandez, a Capacity Building Director for the Detention Watch Network explained in a statement that deprivation of freedom, isolation, uncertainty, and abysmal conditions, including inadequate medical care and mental health services, are a “lethal combination that puts lives in jeopardy.”
“Trump’s cruel detention expansion is exacerbating inherently inhumane conditions and expanding abuses, with increasing reports of death, medical neglect, overcrowding, lack of food, and rampant transfers,” she wrote. “We have long known that Trump’s cruel deportation agenda would be bottomlined by an aggressive multi-layered detention expansion plan at all costs. However, the scope and scale, and more importantly, human toll, continues to be shocking. No one should suffer in these conditions and no family should have to bear this tragic loss.”
Registration is closed for Common Ground: Building Together conference and gala award banquet in San Francisco on January 24. A shoutout to our planning committee: Jane Chin, Frank Mah, Jeannie Young, Akemi Tamanaha, Nathan Soohoo, Mark Young, Dave Liu, and Yiming Fu.
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