CALIFORNIA CITY — Hundreds of immigration detainees across at least 33 states have filed federal lawsuits between January 2025 and March 2026 alleging that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facilities failed to provide adequate medical care. The lawsuits describe widespread denials or delays in treatment for serious conditions including high blood pressure, diabetes, epilepsy, Parkinson’s, HIV, and heart disease.
Detainees reported being denied medications entirely or receiving them late, with some requests for medical assistance going unanswered for weeks. In one case, a Honduran mother of two said she was hospitalized for a heart problem after being denied blood pressure medication while detained in Florida. A Venezuelan man said his leg became purple and swollen from flesh-eating bacteria after staff at a Vermont facility failed to take him to a scheduled doctor appointment.
Vardan Gukasian, a political dissident and former paramedic detained in Henderson, Nevada, wrote in a March 2026 court declaration, “I have never seen such disregard or medical neglect like this anywhere.” Gukasian was hospitalized in June 2025 after experiencing dizziness, a nosebleed, and a headache from uncontrolled high blood pressure—an emergency triggered only after his cellmate and other detainees banged on doors to summon help.
Other plaintiffs described extreme measures due to lack of care: an Albanian man said he pulled out his own tooth while detained in New Mexico, and a woman from El Salvador reported missing a week of HIV medication when transferred from Colorado to a jail in Wyoming. A Romanian citizen who had undergone emergency triple bypass surgery in April 2025 went two days without any of his 16 required medications after being detained in Baltimore, and later suffered a stroke during a video call with his daughter.
Sean Conley, acting Chief Medical Officer of the Department of Homeland Security, defended ICE’s practices, stating, “It is both policy and longstanding practice for aliens to receive timely and appropriate medical care from the moment they enter ICE custody.” He added, “This is better, more responsive healthcare than many aliens have ever received in their entire lives.”
Individual detention facilities and private prison companies that operate them said they follow ICE standards and provide required medical care. Some companies claimed unfamiliarity with the allegations, while others attributed lapses to detainees themselves. As of mid-January 2026, ICE held more than 75,000 immigrants, up from about 40,000 a year earlier. The Department of Homeland Security reported 51 deaths in ICE custody since the start of Trump’s second administration, including an unprecedented number of suicides.