source: Austin Kocher https://substack.com/@austinkocher
A Mexican national died while in ICE custody at the Robert A Deyton Detention Facility in Lovejoy, Georgia, south of Atlanta, according to a press release from the Mexican consulate in Atlanta. This death brings the toll of detained deaths to five in just the first fifteen days of 2026—a pace that, if sustained, would far exceed even last year's nearly record-setting number of 30 deaths.
Just days ago, Setareh Ghandehari of Detention Watch Network told The Hill, “Under the Trump administration's massive expansion of the detention system, loss of life in ICE custody is truly staggering. Now, there have been four deaths in ICE custody in just 10 days of 2026. It's devastating, enraging, and must change now.”
It hasn’t changed—it’s gotten worse. At the current rate of one death every three days, 2026 could see 122 deaths in custody.
The public can barely keep up with announcements about detained deaths. Less than two days ago, I worried about what new tragedies we would learn about over the weekend. My only mistake was thinking that we’d even make it through the week before another detained death was announced.
And there’s no reason anything will change. As Andrew Free shows, the White House’s constant dismissal of detained deaths as “nothing to see here” runs up against the reality of the data.
The White House’s insensitivity toward the darker consequences of mass deportation combined with an obliteration of oversight and accountability mechanisms is reckless and could be fueling, rather than mitigating, loss of life. This was true in how the White House responded to the killing of Renee Good, and it’s true in how they are responding to detained deaths.
All this is happening amid historic growth in mass detention. Detention numbers have climbed to a record 68,990 people—possibly 70,000 by now. And since the start of this fiscal year in October, fully 72% of this growth comes from people with no criminal histories on record, and another 20% of this growth comes from people with charges but no convictions. Just 8% of all detention bed growth since October 1 has come from people with criminal convictions.
It’s about time for Congress to step in and do its job and thoroughly investigate why detention deaths are so incredibly high, because it’s clear that the agency itself is unwilling or unable to manage this growing problem.
Furthermore, Congress is debating—right now—whether to give ICE even more money for detention beds. Under these circumstances, I don’t see how any elected representative of either party could stomach further funding a detention system with this rate of death.
ICE has not reported this death on their website yet.
