In recent weeks, United States immigration agents have ended the lives of two American citizens: Renée Good y Alex Pretti.
Good was ‘monitoring’ the work of federal agents during a raid against possible illegal immigrants in south Minneapolis on January 7 when, as she left the scene in her car, she was shot by one of the uniformed officers.
Last Saturday Pretti was carrying out a similar task in the neighboring neighborhood when several immigration agents proceeded to overpower him and, once on the ground, shoot him.
As both incidents were recorded by several witnesses, it took just a few hours for the deaths of Good and Pretti to go viral and generate the resulting avalanche of criticism. Some of them from environments close to the Republican Party and the American right.
What not so many people know is that in the custody of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service or ICE – a federal body that is beginning to be nicknamed ‘ICEtapo’ in progressive circles – several dozen people have already died in the last twelve months. That is: since Donald Trump’s return to power.
In addition to what happened with Good and Pretti, in the three weeks into the year the deaths of the Cuban immigrant have also been confirmed Geraldo Lunas Camposfrom Nicaraguan Victor Manuel Diazfrom the Hondurans Luis Gustavo Núñez Cáceres y Luis Beltrán Yáñez-Cruzand from Cambodian Parades La.
The first two were in an ICE detention center located in El Paso; Núñez Cáceres died in a Houston hospital, Yáñez-Cruz died in a Californian hospital and Parady La died in an ICE detention center located in Philadelphia.
Only the first death has been classified as “homicide” by the coroner. The others are due, according to ICE, to heart or kidney failure suffered during detention.
In the case of Parady La, agents say he had problems related to withdrawal syndrome as a result of stopping drug use. However, the versions issued by the federal body have been questioned by several civil organizations and pro-human rights groups. In any case, they occurred under ICE supervision.
Beyond the personal tragedy that each of these cases represents, there are many observers concerned when they perceive a trend. And 2025 has already closed registering a substantial increase in the number of deaths that occurred in ICE detention centers or associated places: 32, specifically. The highest figure since 2004.
“Some of those who died in these centers had recently arrived in the United States in search of asylum,” explains a group of journalists from the British newspaper The Guardian who has spent weeks gathering information about it. “Others had arrived years ago, some as small children.”
Several of the deceased had criminal records and, therefore, were traced with some ease. Others were directly involved in one of the massive raids organized by ICE.
“They died from seizures and heart failure, stroke, respiratory failure, tuberculosis or suicide,” they explain from the British newspaper. “In some cases, their families and lawyers have alleged that they died due to negligence, after repeatedly trying, unsuccessfully, to obtain medical attention.”
Another fact to keep in mind is that all of these deaths have occurred after Trump intensified his immigration operations. That is to say: in the midst of a wave of arrests. According to data provided by ICE, in mid-December there were 68,440 people serving time in their detention centers. Of which, by the way, around 75% have no criminal record.
In line with the above, many organizations opposed to Trump’s immigration policy and the way of working that is being used point out that one of the problems lies in the saturation suffered by many detention centers.
There are too many people. Consequently, staff are overwhelmed and conditions have deteriorated, leading to inadequate nutrition and poor medical care.
“Many of these deaths are due to the deterioration of conditions inside ICE detention centers,” he told several media outlets. Setareh Ghandeharione of those responsible for the Detention Watch Network; a non-profit organization that has been monitoring what happens inside immigration detention centers for years.
For its part, the Department of Homeland Security, under whose supervision ICE is located, has denied that conditions in these centers have worsened.
“It is a traditional practice to provide comprehensive medical care from the moment a foreigner enters ICE custody,” explained the agency spokesperson. And he added that the average mortality rate has remained low, indicating that “according to data from the last decade, in-custody mortality rates are 0.00007%.”
After the death this Saturday of Alex Pretti, Trump’s press secretary, Caroline Leavittsaid in a press conference that “no one in the White House, not even the president, wants to see people injured or dead on the streets of the United States and this includes Renée Good, Alex Pretti, the brave men and women of law enforcement and the many Americans who have been victims of illegal immigrant criminals.”
Leavitt then blamed the Democratic Party for being behind the deaths of Good and Pretti by encouraging people to confront ICE agents during their raids.
“President Trump hopes, wishes and demands that the resistance and chaos end today; local police must assist federal law enforcement,” he said. An allusion to the resistance that the Minneapolis authorities, who are from the Democratic Party, are exercising to the request to deploy their own law enforcement forces to support ICE immigration agents.