Attorney General Bonta Raises Alarm on ICE Directive to Stop Investigating and Reporting on Detainee Deaths

OAKLAND — California Attorney General Rob Bonta today, as part of a multistate coalition, raised serious concerns with a new Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) directive to stop investigating and reporting on the deaths of individuals who die within 30 days after being released from ICE custody. This change comes in the midst of a spike in detainee deaths and U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) efforts to shield conditions in its detention facilities from oversight. During inspections conducted at the seven immigration detention facilities operating in California last year, the California Department of Justice (DOJ) found that conditions had largely worsened as the Trump Administration’s mass deportation campaign led to overcrowded intake conditions and strained resources, especially around access to medical care and basic food, water, and hygienic needs. Tragically, there were six deaths of detainees in California facilities between September 2025 and March 2026 — the highest number since DOJ started conducting its reviews in 2017. In a letter, Attorney General Bonta and the coalition urge ICE to rescind its directive and carefully review all cases involving deaths of newly released detainees.

“As detainee deaths continue to rise, the Trump Administration is eliminating a key transparency tool that helps ensure detainee safety and well-being,” said Attorney General Bonta. “It’s alarming — and it shows a callous disregard for the human beings under their care. My team has witnessed first-hand shockingly inadequate conditions at immigration detention facilities operating in California. We've seen the urgent need for more oversight, not less. I urge ICE to withdraw this new policy and take responsibility for investigating detainee deaths and enforcing its own minimum-standards of care.”

In response to growing concerns for the health and safety of people in civil immigration detention, during the first Trump Administration, the California Legislature enacted Assembly Bill (AB) 103 to require DOJ to review and report on conditions of confinement at immigration detention facilities through July 1, 2027. Recognizing the ongoing need for transparency around these facilities, earlier this year, Attorney General Bonta sponsored Senate Bill (SB) 1399, authored by Senator María Elena Durazo (D-Los Angeles), which would remove the sunset provision of AB 103 so that these critical reports continue past 2027. 

Last month, Attorney General Bonta released DOJ’s fifth report on conditions at immigration detention facilities operating in California. During its review, in 2025, DOJ staff — with support from a team of correctional and healthcare experts — toured each facility, reviewed and analyzed logs, policies, detainee records, and other documentation, and interviewed detention staff and 194 detained individuals across the seven detention facilities that were operating in 2025. DOJ identified multiple violations of ICE’s own detention standards, including declining conditions for detainees who were experiencing inadequate medical care, delay in medical treatment, overcrowded intake conditions, inadequate food, water, and clothing, and excessive use of force in some facilities by detention facility guards, violating standards such as those guaranteeing nutritious meals, an appropriate living environment, reasonable uses of force, and adequate medical care.

ICE’s decision to change its policies around investigating and reporting on detainee deaths comes at a time when deaths have risen to record highs and as the agency has acted to shield its detention practices from review by state and federal officials. In recent months, ICE has unlawfully denied public health officials and Congressional representatives’ access to its detention facilities for routine inspections of detention conditions. These moves accompany the closure of the Office of Immigration Detention Ombudsman and significant cuts to the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, both of which are independent oversight bodies within DHS that have historically addressed complaints about deficient detention conditions.

Attorney General Bonta is committed to shining a light on conditions at immigration detention facilities across California and standing up for California’s immigrant communities. In addition to reporting on DOJ’s findings around conditions at California’s immigration detention facilities, he has filed amicus briefs opposing the conditions of confinement at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center and sent a letter to the DHS shining a light on dangerous conditions at the California City Detention Facility. 

Earlier this month, Attorney General Bonta filed a lawsuit seeking to block the illegal development of an ICE facility in unincorporated Santa Clara County near Gilroy, California. He also sent a letter urging city leaders to reject CoreCivic’s applications for a business license and site plan for its current use of the California City Correctional Facility for immigrant detention operations. 

Attorney General Bonta joins the attorneys general of New York, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia in filing the letter.