Nonilex3d ago

#ICE detainees are dying by #suicide at an 'alarming' rate, AP investigation finds

Brayan Rayo Garzon was distraught. Detained by ICE, he was on his fourth day of #isolation in a Missouri jail as he battled the fevers & chills of #COVID-19.

His request for #MentalHealth treatment had been put off, records show, & staff had forbidden Rayo from making his nightly call to his mother as a precaution intended to prevent the spread of illness.

#law #HumanRights #PublicHealth
https://apnews.com/article/ice-suicide-deaths-detention-custody-d902169055292dfd27f5079e609e86ad

ICE detainees dying by suicide at 'alarming' rate, AP investigation finds

Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees are taking their own lives at a pace that’s unprecedented in the agency’s two-decade history, highlighting what experts call failures in care and oversight. An Associated Press investigation finds that at least 10 ICE detainees have died by suicide since President Donald Trump returned to office in January 2025 and ordered ICE to increase arrests and deportations. That includes seven deaths since October, already the most in one fiscal year with several months remaining. The increased pace of suicides exceeds the growth in ICE’s detainee population. The deaths happened at detention facilities operated by private contractors and local jails run by sheriffs. All were men, and most were Hispanic.

AP News
Show threadNonilex3d ago

He pleaded with his jailers in handwritten notes to arrange a conversation with her. “I feel in my heart that she’s very worried about me,” he wrote in Spanish.

A guard collected the note & walked away. Within an hour, #jail records show, he was found unconscious in his cell. An autopsy determined he killed himself.

#law #Trump #immigration #ICE #TheCrueltyIsThePoint #HumanRights #HumanitarianLaw #PublicHealth #abuse #isolation #suicide #MentalHealth

Show threadNonilex3d ago

Rayo’s April 2025 death was the first suicide in a spike among #ICE detainees that has alarmed #PublicHealth officials & #jail experts. They said the unprecedented number of #suicide deaths is an indication that authorities are failing to properly oversee the detention of tens of thousands of #immigrants swept up in the #Trump admin’s aggressive #deportation strategy.

#law #immigration #TheCrueltyIsThePoint #HumanRights #HumanitarianLaw #abuse #isolation #MentalHealth

Show threadNonilex3d ago

An AP investigation found that at least 10 detainees, all men, have died by #suicide since #Trump took office in Jan 2025, a pace that FAR EXCEEDS the growth in the detainee population, acc/to a review of #ICE data, autopsy reports, coroners’ rulings & police records. Since October, 7 deaths have been ruled suicides, a number that is already the most for ANY fiscal year in the agency’s history. ICE has usually recorded 1 or NO such deaths annually.

#law #immigration #PublicHealth #MentalHealth

Show threadNonilex3d ago

“Something is going profoundly wrong from any kind of #PublicHealth or #MentalHealth perspective,” said Dr. Sanjay Basu, a University of California-San Francisco epidemiologist who cowrote a study documenting the increase in mortality & #suicide rates among #ICE detainees. “This is one of those alarming, sudden increases.”

#law #Trump #immigration #TheCrueltyIsThePoint #HumanRights #HumanitarianLaw #abuse #isolation

Show threadNonilex3d ago

9 of the deaths were of Hispanic men who had arrived in the US from 4 countries, the AP found. One man was a Chinese citizen. Their average age was 32. While #Trump has characterized those facing deportation as the “worst of the worst,” 7 of the 10 had NO record of violent crimes in the US.

#law #immigration #ICE #TheCrueltyIsThePoint #HumanRights #HumanitarianLaw #PublicHealth #abuse #isolation #suicide #MentalHealth

Show threadChris Smart
@Nonilex Method?
May 27 at 3:13pmWeb