LUMPKIN — Hundreds of detainees in at least 33 states allege in federal lawsuits that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centers systematically fail to provide adequate medical care. The lawsuits describe delayed or denied treatment for chronic and acute conditions, resulting in worsening infections, untreated cancers, seizures, and preventable deaths.
Detainees report not receiving medications on time—or at all—for conditions including hypertension, diabetes, depression, epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease, and HIV. Some said their requests for medical help went unanswered for weeks. Blood sugar levels rose among diabetic detainees, and others collapsed or suffered seizures while awaiting care.
A Venezuelan man said his leg swelled and turned purple from a flesh-eating bacteria because staff at a Vermont detention center failed to take him to a scheduled medical appointment. An Albanian man stated that the pain became so unbearable that he pulled out his own tooth while languishing for months in an immigrant detention center in New Mexico. A Honduran mother of two said she was hospitalized for a heart condition after being denied blood pressure medication while detained in Florida.
According to a court filing, staff at the Stewart Detention Center in rural Lumpkin, Georgia, did not adequately respond to a detainee’s repeated medical requests until he lost consciousness and was transported to a hospital about an hour away. The detainee said a doctor at the hospital told him he nearly lost his left leg to amputation.
Vardan Gukasian, a political dissident and former paramedic who spent years imprisoned in Armenia, wrote in a March 2026 court declaration challenging his 13-month detention in Nevada, “I have never seen medical disregard or negligence like this anywhere.” He described an episode in June 2025 when he experienced symptoms of uncontrolled hypertension—dizziness, nosebleeds, and headache—and his cellmate had to request help. “When help didn’t arrive, the rest of the pod started banging on their doors.” Gukasian was hospitalized the same day.
Sean Conley, interim chief medical officer of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), previously stated, “It is long-standing policy and practice that aliens receive timely and appropriate medical care from the moment they come into ICE custody.” He added, “This is better and more effective health care than many aliens have received in their entire lives.”
The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) reported in April 2026 that ICE detention has become more lethal than in the past two decades. DHS reported that 51 people had died in custody since the start of Trump’s second administration, with suicides rising to an unprecedented level.