OfflineThroughout June and into July, devastated members of the American public have continued to pray and protest in front of New Jersey’s Delaney Hall, an immigration detention center operated by the for-profit corporation Geo Group. The sustained presence of the crowds, which include faith communities, concerned neighbors, friends and family of those detained, and advocates, has helped raise awareness about detainee deaths and the abominable conditions inside Delaney and other detention centers.
Their outrage is warranted; deaths in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody in the U.S. are at the highest level in over a decade. According to a report from Physicians for Human Rights and Human Rights Watch, 52 individuals have died in ICE custody between January 20, 2025, and June 4, 2026.
Across the country in Texas groups including faith leaders and Japanese survivors of World War II internment have also prayed and protested outside Dilley family detention center. The center is operated by another for-profit prison corporation, Core Civic, and is the United States’ only center that detains children and families.
The Administration resumed family detention despite numerous studies proving that family detention causes children significant psychological trauma and long-term mental health risks. At the same time, the Administration ended case management programs that provided a humane alternative to detention — despite the programs’ proven success in ensuring families comply with immigration proceedings (while also saving taxpayers money).
As Members of Congress, the American public, and faith-based service organizations including Global Refuge continue to call for an end to family detention and for detention reforms, DHS has opted not to address their concerns in its recently released update to ICE detention standards.
In its 2026 updated detention standards, released by ICE in June, there were several small steps in the right direction, including specifying that interpretation and translation are at no cost to detainees, requiring that mental health evaluations happen sooner, and requiring facilities to seek transfers when they cannot adequately meet a detainee’s medical or mental health needs.
The new standards also provide clearer expectations for what should happen when someone is released from detention. People are now supposed to get a free phone call to reach family, a list of legal and medical resources, weather-appropriate clothing, and a ride to public transit or a local nonprofit if they need it. And for those with mobility challenges, the rules make clear that assistive devices should stay with them, not be taken away.
These positive changes reflect years of advocacy, including by Global Refuge. But they still fall incredibly short of what’s needed for just, humane, and rights-based immigration enforcement that aligns with American values.
Despite the updates, many of the most harmful parts of immigration detention remain untouched. People, including children and families, can still be held for months or even years with no clear end in sight, solitary confinement is still allowed for people with serious mental illness, and medical care remains shockingly inadequate, with no established timeline for transfer when someone needs urgent treatment.
Communication— including something as simple as asking for help— can also go dangerously wrong. The new standards allow AI translation for anything deemed “noncritical,” despite the fact that a single mistranslated sentence can seriously affect someone’s safety, health, or legal case. Under the new standards, detainee handbooks can be distributed electronically, with printed copies available only upon request, limiting access for detained individuals to understand their rights in detention and how to file a complaint if needed.
Unfortunately, Congress recently signed off on $70 billion in new enforcement funding with no guardrails or codified reforms.
But there is still an opportunity for changes to be made. Congress must pull back funding when the system doesn’t meet basic standards and make sure every future dollar comes with conditions that protect people: transparency, independent inspections, limits on solitary confinement, and safeguards for those who are medically or mentally vulnerable.
These aren’t abstract policy debates. They’re about whether someone gets medical care in time. Whether a mother can call her family before she’s released. Whether a person in crisis is placed alone in a cell. Whether anyone outside those walls ever learns what happened inside of them.
Oversight is possible. On June 24, the DHS Inspector General announced that it will examine whether patterns inside ICE, including agency policies and day‑to‑day practices, played a role in the deaths of people held in detention between October 2021 and March 2026. The review will also look at whether detention facilities are following the government’s own rules on use of force.
When people die in government custody, families deserve answers, and so do American taxpayers, but the duty to act doesn’t stop there. If we want an immigration system that is both effective and reflects the values we say we believe in— dignity, fairness, and humanity— then Congress has to insist on it. So does the American public.
Our grassroots supporters can stand with immigrants and refugees by reaching out to their Representatives in Congress about:
When we reach out, our members of Congress hear directly from the people they represent, and it truly makes a difference. Together, we can choose a system that protects people instead of harming them. Global Refuge stands ready to work with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to make that choice.
