Over 1,200 missing. Nearly 60,000 behind barbed wire – the record number of detainees, combined with secrecy and neglect, is fueling a humanitarian crisis
By Alakananda Mookerjee
A crisis in detention centers
Fifteen people dead. More than 1,200 missing. Nearly 60,000 behind barbed wire.
That is the picture immigrant advocates painted of the U.S. detention centers, in an October 3 briefing hosted by American Community Media. The infrastructure could be on the verge of collapse, they warned.
The event brought together lawyers and human rights experts who said the record number of detainees, combined with secrecy and neglect, is fueling a humanitarian crisis.
“This is a crisis,” said moderator Pilar Marrero. “And it is happening with diminishing transparency.”
One of the most troubling cases is in Florida, where more than 1,200 detainees cannot allegedly be traced at the Everglades detention center, known as “Alligator Alcatraz.” Families and attorneys say they cannot locate them.
Nationwide, the number of detainees has climbed to nearly 60,000, the highest on record. Most have not been convicted of any crime.
The plight of asylum seekers
Heather Hogan, Policy and Practice Counsel for the American Immigration Lawyers Association, spent years as an asylum officer inside detention centers. She said she saw asylum seekers routinely treated like criminals.
“They were woken up at 3:30 or 4:00 in the morning,” she said. “By the time I interviewed them, they were exhausted and hungry. These were life-altering interviews, but people had nothing left.”
Hogan recalled asylum seekers arriving in shackles, wearing orange jumpsuits, and lined up in holding cells. Guards referred to them as “bodies.”
“One man needed to go to the restroom during an interview,” she said. “When he couldn’t locate it immediately, the guard mocked him and pretended to kick him. That kind of behavior was common.”
She said prolonged detention deepens trauma for people already fleeing violence. “Those at risk of suicide or are LGBTQ detainees are kept in solitary confinement,” she added. “The United Nations calls it torture.”
Hogan recounted the suicide of a young asylum seeker in Arizona, soon after her interview, during which she expressed fear that was credible. “The safeguards just aren’t there,” she said.
Deaths in custody
Andrew Free, an Atlanta-based lawyer who founded the project #DetentionKills, said 22 people died in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody in 2025—the second-highest total on record.
“Most of the deaths were in Florida, particularly at the Krome Detention Center,” Free said.
He added that the official tally may not be telling the whole truth. By cross-checking data provided by Immigration and Customs Enforcement with records available publicly, Free found out about five deaths that were never publicly reported.
“What is the true number of people dying in ICE custody?” he asked. “I don’t know. And I don’t think anybody does.”
Free now tracks detention deaths for journalists and researchers. He said lawsuits and investigative reporting remain the only credible ways to force disclosure. “The reason we know anything about deaths in custody is because people sued,” he said. “And reporters kept digging.”
Lack of transparency
Yannick Gill, Senior Counsel for Refugee Advocacy at Human Rights First, said transparency has eroded sharply. He also spoke of recent instances where members of Congress were denied entry to detention centers.
“That’s unconstitutional,” he said. “It should make us stop and ask: What exactly is ICE hiding behind those walls?”
Gill also described the use of “shadow sites”—facilities not listed in ICE’s public reports. Detainees held in such locations often disappear from official tracking systems, creating what he called “enforced disappearances.”
“People are simply off the grid,” he said. “That is unacceptable in a democracy.”
Advocates argue that harsh conditions are not just the result of poor management, but part of a deliberate strategy.
“The cruelty is the point,” Hogan said. “Separating people from their families, traumatizing them, making conditions unbearable—that is the government’s approach now. The goal is to get people to give up their asylum claims.”
She said community-based case management offers a far more humane alternative. “Detention should be rare, used only when absolutely necessary,” she said. “Instead, it has become the default.”
What can be done?
Free added that lawsuits, while imperfect, can still have impact. During the pandemic, litigation led to the release of tens of thousands from detention. “Many of those people would not have survived COVID inside,” he said.
Gill said oversight must be restored. “Congress has the constitutional authority to enter detention centers,” he said. “Blocking that authority undermines democracy itself.”
Immigration detention is supposed to be civil,” Free said. “That’s the fiction. In reality, it is indistinguishable from prison.”
He added, “This is not just about law. It’s about justice. And right now, people are dying without either.”
Read: Truth behind America’s Mass Deportation
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Alakananda Mookerjee lives in Brooklyn, and is a Francophile.
Courtesy: India Currents
