A family’s story of heartbreak: Inside the ICE custody death of a man who feared dying

A mother’s last visit

During one visit, Ismael told his mother, “Mom, I’m not going to make it,” Lucia recalled. Two days after their last meeting, police came to her home and told her he had died at 2:32am on September 22, 2025.

A medical emergency in detention

ICE records say that just after midnight on Sunday, he was vomiting, shaking and sweating. Physicians for Human Rights expert Cuneo, who reviewed the case, said he should have received a physical examination and antibiotics.

Disputed timeline and care

The coroner’s report and ICE’s timeline differ. The report indicates that Ismael went into cardiac arrest early on September 21, nearly a day before his death; medical staff restored his heartbeat after intubating him.

Al Jazeera’s Fault Lines documentary series has spoken with people in ICE custody and families whose relatives died there, examining conditions surrounding such deaths. The report says experts and watchdog groups have challenged the Department of Homeland Security’s claim that the death rate remains consistent with the previous decade.

Death rates and detention numbers

During Donald Trump’s first 500 days back in office, 53 people died in ICE custody, according to the article. The annualised mortality rate was 2.24 per 10,000 detainees during Joe Biden’s four-year term and has risen to 6.38 since Trump began his second term.

Human rights lawyer and researcher Reagan Williams said the increase in detentions does not fully explain the rise in deaths. Cuneo also said the death rate had nearly tripled and was not proportional to the detained population.