Deaths in immigration detention have skyrocketed under the Trump administration, with more than 50 people dying while in civil detention across the country since Trump took office.
Four people died while detained at immigration facilities in Arizona under the second Trump administration. They are Serawit Gezahegn Dejene, Lorenzo Antonio Batrez Vargas, Oscar Rascon Duarte, and Emanuel Cleeford Damas — all of whom died at medical facilities after being held at local detention facilities.
That’s according to a newly launched database project called the ICE Detention Mortality Dashboard built by research group Relevant Research. The dashboard is based on public records and can be filtered by state, year and where the death occurred from 2018 to 2026.
“I write about these deaths because I want the public to understand the context and consequences of the U.S.’s growing immigrant detention system and I believe in making this work legible to as much of the public as possible,” wrote Austin Kocher, a longtime analyst of the immigration system, in a newsletter post announcing the database.
Tucson-based immigrant legal group The Florence Project has long documented medical neglect and poor conditions in Arizona’s immigration facilities. In a March 2026 report they highlighted inadequate prenatal care for pregnant women, shackling of patients hospitalized for serious illness, and dismissal of detainees’ complaints about pain and other symptoms.
Operational facilities where detainees are held in Arizona include the Eloy Detention Center and the Florence Correctional Center. Haitian asylum-seeker Emmanuel Damas was being held in custody in Florence before he died of an untreated tooth infection this year.
In the current environment, where tens of thousands more people are being arrested and detained under the second Trump administration than at any other time in the modern history of immigration enforcement, advocates have also raised concerns about what might not appear in the data.
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There are two levels of reporting on immigration deaths required by ICE: one is a detainee death notification where the agency is expected to post details about a person’s death in custody on the website within two days. The other is a detainee death report, which the agency is expected to produce within 90 days.
But that process may not always catch suspicious deaths, or people who die after their release from detention.
One stark case is the death of 55-year-old Geraldo Lunas Campos. Immigration authorities initially said Campos’ cause of death at an immigration detention camp in El Paso in January was from “medical distress,” but was later classified as a homicide by the medical examiner.
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