By Ted Hesson
WASHINGTON, Jan 12 (Reuters) – Four migrants died while in custody of U.S. immigration authorities over the first 10 days of 2026, according to government press releases, a loss of life that followed record detention deaths last year under President Donald Trump.
The incidents involved two migrants from Honduras, one from Cuba and another from Cambodia, and occurred from January 3-9, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The spate of in-custody deaths coincided with the fatal shooting of a Minnesota mother of three by an ICE officer, an incident that sparked protests in Minneapolis and cities around the country.
The Trump administration aims to ramp up deportations and has increased the number of migrants in detention. As of January 7, ICE statistics showed that the agency was detaining 69,000 people. The numbers were expected to rise following a massive ICE funding infusion passed by the U.S. Congress last year.
At least 30 people died in ICE custody in 2025, the highest level in two decades, agency figures showed.
Setareh Ghandehari, advocacy director at Detention Watch Network, called the high number of deaths “truly staggering” and urged the administration to shutter detention centers. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and ICE did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The Cuban detainee, Geraldo Lunas Campos, 55, died on January 3 in Camp East Montana, a detention site opened by the Trump administration on the grounds of Fort Bliss in Texas.
ICE said it was investigating the death of Lunas, adding that he had become disruptive, was placed in isolation, and later found in distress. He was pronounced dead by emergency medical technicians, ICE said.
The two Honduran men – Luis Gustavo Nunez Caceres, 42, and Luis Beltran Yanez–Cruz, 68 – died in area hospitals in Houston and Indio, California, on January 5 and 6, respectively, both following heart-related issues, ICE said.
Parady La, a Cambodian man, 46, died on January 9 following severe drug withdrawal symptoms at the Federal Detention Center in Philadelphia, ICE said. The administration began using that space last year, it said.
The Trump administration has greatly reduced the number of migrants released from detention on humanitarian grounds, driving some to accept deportation.
(Reporting by Ted Hesson; Editing by David Gregorio)
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