The order by acting ICE Director David Venturella returns to a practice that only records deaths during immediate custody. The 2021 rule, introduced under Joe Biden, was meant to prevent ICE from releasing seriously ill people to avoid deaths in custody. At the time, a detainee died after being released from the Adelanto prison in California with brain damage and Covid-19 following two years in detention – he was dead three days later.
Venturella justified the move in the memo as a return to “standard practice.” Deborah Fleischaker, then acting chief of staff under Biden, had defended the old rule, saying: “The policy was changed to make clear that ICE should not simply release people to avoid deaths in custody.”
The decision comes amid growing criticism of medical care in ICE custody. In the first five months of this year alone, 18 people died in detention, including a notable number of suicides. The new rule could obscure the true number of deaths linked to mass detention under the Trump administration, as deaths shortly after release will no longer be recorded.
The White House and the Department of Homeland Security have not commented on the move. Human rights organizations have already announced legal challenges.
Source: www.theguardian.com
