Durbin Details Horrific Conditions In Immigration Detention Under Trump Administration

Durbin Details Horrific Conditions In Immigration Detention Under Trump Administration

In Fiscal Year 2026, the death rate in ICE custody is higher than any year on record, higher even than the COVID-19 spike of 2020

WASHINGTON - In a speech on the Senate floor, U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, spoke out against the dramatic increase in deaths and horrific conditions in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention, including family detention, during the second Trump Administration. Earlier this month, the peer-reviewed Journal of the American Medical Association published a 22-year study of deaths in ICE custody. It found that the death rate in fiscal year 2026 is the highest in the entire study period-higher than any year on record, higher even than the COVID-19 spike of 2020. During this calendar year alone, 17 people have already died in immigration detention-many of them from treatable conditions such as cardiovascular disease and infections.

"Earlier this month and in the midst of President Donald Trump's mass deportation campaign, members of my staff traveled to Southwest Texas to conduct oversight of ICE's Dilley family detention facility. ICE allowed my staff two hours, just two hours, for their entire visit-and notified them of that limitation when they were en route to the facility," Durbin said. "What is ICE-and this Administration-trying to conceal? My staff's visit uncovered serious issues. Let me tell you some of their findings."

Durbin shared the story of Hayam El Gamal and her five children-ranging in ages from five to 18-who have been held for nearly a year at the Dilley family detention facility. That is believed to be the longest anyone has been detained during President Trump's second term. Hayam's husband faces state charges for a violent attack in Boulder last June-and he should face the full weight of the law. But the FBI and an immigration judge found Hayam and her children engaged in no wrongdoing and had no prior knowledge of the father's horrific actions. And just yesterday, a magistrate judge recommended the family's habeas petition be granted. The judge found the family had been detained in violation of their due process rights and recommended they be released from detention.

"If, despite the judge's recommendation, the Department of Homeland Security still objects to the release of an innocent woman and her five children, we know exactly why that is the case," Durbin said. "It is not because they present any danger to the community or a flight risk. It is because they are immigrants-Arab Muslim immigrants at that."

Earlier this year, through their attorney, the El Gamal family submitted to the Senate Judiciary Committee letters and drawings describing their life inside Dilley. In one letter, the nine-year-old child wrote: "We have been here for nine months. I really miss playing with my toys and my watch. Please get us out of here." In another, the 16-year-old said: "I have seen with my own eyes, food that has mold in it. I even saw food with actual worms."

"These are children. In a facility run under a federal contract, paid for by you and me-the American taxpayers. The mother has experienced despair and a recent medical emergency. Only one hour after my staff left that facility, this mother was rushed to the emergency room in pain. A doctor recommended that she receive an ultrasound. ICE denied it. Hayam has a history of cancer. She was denied a recommended diagnostic procedure. ICE is allowing this medical neglect, even when so many people are dying in immigration detention," Durbin said. "The El Gamal family [case] is an extreme one. But, unfortunately, their experiences in detention aren't uncommon, as there are widespread reports of inhumane conditions at ICE facilities across the country."

Durbin noted that this is happening inside a detention system that congressional Republicans injected with $45 billion in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. It is a system where about 90 percent of detention beds are run by private corporations whose profits-not care standards-hit record highs last year. And now Republicans want to use the partisan budget reconciliation process to pour even more taxpayer dollars into this system.

"As the partial government shutdown of DHS continues, House Republicans refuse to even consider the bipartisan Senate-passed bill to fund all of DHS except ICE and CBP. Democrats will not fund cruelty without accountability. We will continue to demand the reforms ICE and CBP require," Durbin said.

Durbin concluded, "As they prepare to turn to a partisan budget reconciliation process to fund ICE, Republicans in Congress have a choice: demand accountability for every dollar we give this agency or keep signing checks to a slush fund while people are detained by ICE. Remember what the President said? We're going after 'the worst of the worst' … Does it sound like this family that's been waiting in detention for one year with no charges fits into that category? Of course not."

Video of Durbin's remarks on the Senate floor is available here.

Audio of Durbin's remarks on the Senate floor is available here.

Footage of Durbin's remarks on the Senate floor is available here for TV Stations.

In February, Durbin sent a letter to then-DHS Secretary Kristi Noem sounding the alarm on the dramatic increase in deaths in ICE detention.

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