U.S. Immigration Detention Centers Failing to Provide Adequate Medical Care, Investigation Finds

The story of an Albanian man who pulled out his own tooth during months in a New Mexico detention center, a Honduran mother hospitalized for a heart problem after being denied blood‑pressure medication in Florida, and a Venezuelan whose leg swelled from infection because he did not get a scheduled doctor’s appointment are not isolated incidents. They are symptoms of a wider problem that KFF Health News and the Associated Press uncovered in their investigation of the U.S. immigration detention system.

Allegations of Medical Neglect

According to the report, more than 40,000 habeas‑corpus petitions filed against ICE over the past three years have documented medical neglect. Between 70 % of detainees and 90 % of the lawsuits named failing to provide timely medication, missing doctor appointments, and untreated conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes, depression, epilepsy, Parkinson’s and HIV. These allegations were made in court documents filed by detainees, families and their lawyers, often under penalty of perjury.

Case Highlights

A Chinese‑born detainee in New Mexico was forced to pull out a tooth after months of untreated pain. Two Honduran mothers in Florida were hospitalized after being denied blood‑pressure medication. A Venezuelan man in Vermont had a leg that turned purple and swollen when staff did not refer him to a doctor. In Colorado a man with a knee injury waited a week without medication after being moved to a different facility. A woman with glaucoma experienced missing eye drops, and a man with HIV missed a week’s worth of medication when he was relocated. These stories are merely the tip of the iceberg.

Factors Contributing to the Problem

The surge in populations held in ICE custody since President Trump’s second term – a jump from roughly 40,000 to over 75,000 detainees as of mid‑January – has put unprecedented strain on the system. Facilities ranging from purpose‑built detainers to county jails and hastily constructed sites such as “Alligator Alcatraz” are being used to hold people in a system that is not specifically designed to meet medical needs. The DHS Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman was shuttered in early 2025, removing a key oversight mechanism. Many facilities are contracted to private prison companies that claim to follow ICE policies, but inmates report inconsistent application of these policies.

Legal and Policy Implications

ICE’s use of “mandatory detention” means that detainees are held not for criminal prosecution but for civil immigration removal, yet the legal standards that apply in a jail are still required. However, judges are split on whether IC’s “mandatory” policy warrants more stringent medical safeguards. In some judicial rulings, court orders to deliver medical treatment or transport inmates to specialists were ignored, citing “internal scheduling errors.” Several lawsuits were dismissed on grounds unrelated to the medical claims, often citing pending deportations or procedural errors.

Assessing the System’s Response

DHS’s Chief Medical Officer, Sean Conley, stresses that the agency has a policy for timely care from the moment an alien enters custody. He claims staffers are recruited to provide high standard care. In contrast, detainees, family members and legal advocates say that those statements are not reflected in practice. Private prison operators have also offered conflicting comments – from statements that they find no evidence of negligence, to accusations that responsibility lies with detainees who fail to request help.

The Human Consequence

Detainees have reported developing serious complications: a 48‑year‑old men receives his cancer care only after a deportation to Mexico; a woman with a high‑risk pregnancy misses prenatal care; a man with Parkinson’s becomes wheelchair‑bound after missing prescribed medication. Families are left feeling helpless with no recourse aside from filing lawsuits.  Examples include a father in Georgia who suffered an infection after a falling wheelbarrow incident, a woman in California who missed HIV drugs during a county transfer, and an immigrant from Russia who could never see a surgeon because of constant relocations.

The Cost of Neglect

ICE spent over $390 million on healthcare for detained non‑citizens in fiscal year 2023, a figure that has doubled in the latest report. Yet the question remains whether the money is allocated to necessary treatment or to the logistics of maintaining detainment. The most recent data suggests a significant portion of spending has gone toward maintaining the structure of ICE custody rather than addressing the complex medical needs of detainees.

Next Steps

Because the majority of medical neglect cases are hidden in sealed criminal‑law court filings, this investigation only captures a fraction of the issue. “The more than 300 medical neglect claims found in this investigation represent a fraction of the problem,” the report stated. Researchers and advocates call for congressional oversight, repealing some of the “mandatory detention” expansions and revitalizing the Ombudsman office. Meanwhile, those detained and their families are left to judge whether a court order, a staff claim or a lawsuit is the most viable path to receive adequate care.

This report is a collaboration between the Associated Press and KFF Health News. The Associated Press reporters Garance Burke, Valerie Gonzalez and Tim Sullivan, and KFF Health News correspondent Kate Wells contributed to the story. A full list of sources and supporting documents is available in the original AP publication.