Full Breakdown
ICE Custody Deaths Reveal Systemic Medical Neglect in 2025
By Drooid · · How we work
Overview of Findings
Internal mortality reviews released by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detail how staff at multiple detention centers failed to provide basic medical care to at least six detainees who died in 2025. The audits cite missed medication doses, skipped physical examinations, ignored laboratory orders, and delayed emergency treatment. The eight reviews—published on September 25 2025 before being taken offline—cover the deaths of Johnny Noviello, Lorenzo Antonio Batrez Vargas, Marie Ange Blaise, Nhon Nguyen, Oscar Duarte Rascon, Santos Reyes Banegas, Tien Xuan Phan, and Chaofeng Ge.
Vargas, a 32-year-old Mexican national, arrived at the Florence Detention Center in Arizona on August 4 2025 with dizziness, blurred vision, and uncontrolled diabetes. After a COVID-19 diagnosis, he received only a single dose of acetaminophen and later an antibiotic regimen that did not follow CDC guidelines. When he reported breathing trouble on August 30 2025, staff gave him an asthma inhaler—deemed insufficient for his respiratory distress—and failed to monitor his oxygen levels before he became unresponsive.
Noviello, a 49-year-old Canadian, entered ICE’s Federal Detention Center in Miami on June 23 2025 with a history of seizures and hypertension. Although his intake nurse ordered labs, the tests were never completed, and his anti-seizure medication was confiscated when he was placed in solitary confinement on June 20 2025. He was later found unresponsive, and staff did not perform effective CPR or secure his body during transport.
Blaise, a Haitian woman, collapsed 20 days after entering the Broward Transitional Center in Florida. Health staff neither gave rescue breaths nor initiated CPR despite her pulselessness, instead merely monitoring her while awaiting EMS.
Ge’s suicide at the Moshannon Valley facility in Pennsylvania was preceded by a documented mood disorder and prior attempt, yet the provider failed to act, resulting in a five-minute delay before life-saving measures were taken.
Context of Detention Surge and Oversight Cuts
Detention numbers swelled from roughly 40,000 in January 2025 to nearly 66,000 by December 2025, according to the American Immigration Council. During the same period, the Department of Homeland Security reduced oversight and transparency mechanisms, limiting external review of medical care in ICE facilities.
Data and Case Illustrations
- At least 56 people have died in ICE custody under the second Trump administration.
- Eight mortality reviews from 2025 were posted on September 25 2025 before being de-indexed from ICE’s public records library.
- Specific dates documented in the reviews include August 4 2025 (Vargas’s arrival), August 30 2025 (Vargas’s breathing complaint), May 29 2025 (Noviello flagged for a possible hunger strike), June 20 2025 (Noviello placed in solitary confinement), and June 23 2025 (Noviello’s death).
Official Statements & Responses
Dr. Katherine Peeler, a medical adviser with Physicians for Human Rights and an assistant professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, described Vargas’s care as “pretty egregiously managed,” noting that waiting for an emergency is not an appropriate treatment strategy.
Verbatim Quotes
- “This is a case of pretty egregiously managed care,” — Dr. Katherine Peeler, the Physicians for Human Rights adviser