How Many ICE-Related COVID-19 Deaths Have Gone Unreported?

A powerful new post by Katy Murdza in Immigration Impact investigates the serious problem of immigrants dying from COVID-19 after their release from detention. To date, ICE has reported only nine COVID-related deaths of individuals held in their custody. However, Murdza notes that “there are concerns that individuals who contracted COVID-19 in detention but died after being released would not get counted in ICE’s data. The situation could create perverse incentives for ICE to release very sick people quickly without accountability.” Murdza carefully documents several tragic cases of individuals released from ICE custody only to die shortly thereafter from the virus. Calling for increased reporting of data on individuals who are infected when released is definitely an important step for ICE to take.

For those interested in more information on the pandemic inside ICE detention, the UCLA Covid-19 Behind Bars Data Project is tracking the staggering number of incarcerated people testing positive for COVID-19 inside ICE facilities, as well as the number of reported deaths.

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