AP investigation finds at least 10 ICE detainees have died by suicide since January 2025, a historic high

The AP's investigation, based on a review of ICE data, autopsy reports, coroners' rulings, and police records, identified at least 10 male detainees who died by suicide since January 2025. Nine were Hispanic men from four countries; one was a Chinese citizen. Their average age was 32, and seven of the 10 had no record of violent crimes in the United States. The suicides account for nearly a fifth of 51 total deaths in ICE custody since January 2025.

The investigation found that ICE detention facilities repeatedly fell short of the agency's own standards. Across the 10 deaths, AP documented instances of staff ignoring signs of distress, delaying mental health treatment, failing to monitor detainees already identified as at risk, and placing distressed individuals in isolation. At least three of the nine facilities where suicides occurred had struggled to conduct the initial medical screening ICE requires within 12 hours of arrival.

The case of Brayan Rayo Garzon, a 26-year-old Colombian man held at the Phelps County Jail in Rolla, Missouri, illustrates the pattern. Rayo's initial medical screening took 35 hours instead of 12, his mental health appointment was canceled twice — once citing staffing, once his COVID-19 infection — and his nightly calls to his mother were suspended during isolation. He passed handwritten notes under his cell door pleading to speak with her. Within an hour of a guard collecting one of the notes, Rayo was found unconscious with a sheet around his neck. He died at a St. Louis hospital. Department of Homeland Security acting assistant secretary Lauren Bis said Rayo received "high-quality medical care during his time in ICE custody."