WASHINGTON, D.C. — While the Trump Administration removes former Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem and the congressional battle to rein in the rogue agency continues, new footage from an independent watchdog group reveals that U.S. citizen Ruben Ray Martinez was killed last year after being pulled over by federal agents while out celebrating his birthday with friends. In addition to DHS agents taking the lives of U.S. citizens in our neighborhoods and communities, the growing number of deaths in ICE detention shows another side of this administration’s callous disregard for human life. 

Following its deadliest year on record, the death toll in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention continues to rise, with the recent case of medical neglect that killed Alberto Gutiérrez Reyes. His death is one of eleven in-custody deaths in 2026 and one of 23 deaths since the fiscal year began in October. Earlier this year, following a public pattern of neglect and cruelty, ICE forcibly detained five-year-old Liam Ramos and his father, denied pregnant women prenatal care, and limited children’s access to adequate food, clean water, and medical care in family detention. Additionally, in less than nine months, the DHS Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL) received nearly six thousand complaints, which is nearly double the number submitted under previous administrations.

Said Nicole Melaku, NPNA executive director, “While this administration dodges accountability and transparency, eleven people have already died in ICE custody following a public pattern of neglect and abuse—and it’s only March. It’s as clear to us as it’s ever been that this administration’s immigration agenda was never about public safety. It is about cruelty, and cruelty cannot go uncontested. No one is safe in the wake of escalating chaos in our communities, caging and neglecting loved ones, or violent enforcement. Congress must agree upon and pass common-sense reforms and accountability measures for DHS, now, before another family has to bury a loved one.”

Said Angelica Salas, executive director, Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA), “The ouster of DHS Secretary Noem is only one step.  The outrageous behavior by federal agents continues from the streets, where they racially profile workers, families, and communities, but it continues without accountability in the detention camps.  Every new death inside one of these facilities is a moral failure that should shock the conscience of this country. People in government custody are being denied basic rights, treated without dignity, and too often paying with their lives. We demand ICE out of our communities and not a dollar more to a rogue agency intent on causing maximum pain, neglect, and dehumanization of our communities.”

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The National Partnership for New Americans (NPNA) is a multi-ethnic, multiracial coalition of over 70 of the nation’s largest immigrant and refugee rights organizations with reach across over 40 states. Together with our members, we advance immigrant and refugee equity and inclusion, build and expand immigration legal services and integration programming capacity, and drive campaigns that strengthen democracy through increased civic participation. See our website for more information at partnershipfornewamericans.org.