Article Summary

This article reports that deaths in ICE custody have reached a record high, with 29 people dying this fiscal year. While acknowledging the rising numbers, the Department of Homeland Security claims the increase is due to a larger detention population, not a spike in death rates, and controversially states that detainees receive better healthcare in custody than they ever have. This shifts the blame from ICE's practices to the detainees themselves, and suggests that being held in detention is a 'choice' for those who could self-deport.