The Fight for Answers About Deaths in Immigration Custody

Deaths in immigration custody are at record levels, and we’re suing to find out why. Plus, a potential Hatch Act violation from Kristi Noem.

Inquiriespress@americanoversight.org

Deaths in immigration custody are at record levels, but the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has been scaling back the amount of information it releases about them. That’s why we filed two new lawsuits this week. We need to know what is happening, how officials are responding, and whether more could have been done to prevent these deaths.

Until late last year, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) routinely published detailed reports on deaths in its custody. In December, it replaced those reports with brief summaries that omit many key details. That makes it harder for families, oversight bodies, and the public to understand the circumstances surrounding these deaths and to evaluate whether the government is responding appropriately.

Our first lawsuit, against ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), seeks records about individuals who have died in immigration custody since the start of Trump’s second term. We asked for detainee death reviews, incident reports, root cause analyses, and other records that could shed light on the fatalities.

Our second lawsuit, against DHS and CBP, is seeking records regarding the agencies’ policies, procedures, and oversight activities related to deaths in immigration custody, including records about government watchdogs and the status of investigations they conducted.

“Families deserve answers about what happened to their loved ones, and the public deserves to know whether the government is taking meaningful steps to address the conditions and failures that contribute to deaths in custody,” said our Executive Director Chioma Chukwu.

Did Kristi Noem violate the Hatch Act?

This week, we asked the U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) to investigate whether former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and her staff violated the Hatch Act when they used taxpayer-funded travel to attend and promote partisan events and activities.

The Hatch Act prohibits executive branch employees from using their official authority or influence to affect election outcomes and restricts the use of taxpayer-funded resources for partisan political activities.

We filed our complaint after we obtained records that show Noem and DHS staff traveled to Nashville, Tenn., in June 2025, to attend a conference hosted by the Republican Governors Association (RGA), which works to get Republican governors elected. We asked OSC to investigate whether taxpayer-funded travel or other government resources were improperly used for political activity on that trip, and whether any required reimbursements were made.

As DHS Secretary, Noem drew bipartisan scrutiny from lawmakers over her use of DHS resources. Weeks before she was fired, Noem was featured in a $220 million taxpayer-funded television ad that boosted her public profile. She also faced criticism for plans to buy a pair of Gulfstream jets for executive travel, which critics characterized as an unnecessary luxury.

Election denier Janice Johnston resigns from Georgia Election Board

Janice Johnston has reportedly resigned from the Georgia State Election Board (SEB). Johnston used her position to undermine public confidence in Georgia’s elections by promoting conspiracy theories, attacking verified results, and shielding official board communications from disclosure.

“Georgians should not have to bear the cost of officials who push falsehoods and evade accountability,” our Executive Director Chioma Chukwu said. “Her resignation does not erase the damage, but it creates an opportunity to restore integrity to the State Election Board with leaders committed to facts, transparency, and rule of law.”

On the records

Shedding light on attacks on LGBTQ+ rights

This Pride month feels urgent for many, as members of the LGBTQ+ community face a rollback of rights. We’re kicking it off by highlighting what some of our previous investigations revealed:

In 2022, Texas Gov. Abbott directed officials to label gender-affirming care as “child abuse.” We obtained internal documents about how officials were carrying out this policy, which were used in a lawsuit that blocked the state from investigating families providing gender-affirming care to their children.
We tracked how multiple states were removing information about LGBTQ+ people from the schools, including a list of books pulled from libraries in Georgia and a Sesame Street video about bullying that was flagged in North Carolina.
And in Missouri, records we uncovered showed that a state health department removed vital health info from their website amid a wave of anti-LGBTQ+ bills in 2023.

American Oversight in the news

Another chance for Trump to cash out (The Atlantic)
ICE sued for autopsies as custody death count mounts (Newsweek)
Noem faces new legal trouble over jet use (Salon)
Former AG Pam Bondi forced to face Congress over hidden Epstein records (Tampa Free Press)