A report critical of many of the 107 deaths of detainees held by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, which is charged with detention and removal operations of illegal immigrants to the U.S., alleges behind-the-scene official cover up of substandard care or abuse, as reported by the New York Times in Officials Hid Truth of Immigrant Deaths in Jail.
Since 2003, when the agency was formed under the Department of Homeland Security, it has not been held accountable for deaths that have occurred in our nation's immigration jails, which are described by the Times as "a haphazard network of privately run jails, federal centers and county cells where to government holds noncitizens while it tries to deport them"..
The story details at several deaths of persons who, by virtue of their status as immigration detainees were owed a duty of care by ICE and the US government.
A man committed suicide, partially due to the unbearable pain he suffered. The facility's medical personnel falsified the record to show that he had received medication, however, at the time they said he received it, he was already dead;
In another case, a man with a skull fracture was left in isolation for 13 hours before an ambulance was called;
Another man made "numerous" requests for a biopsy, which he did not receive, allowing the undiagnosed spread of penile cancer.
The families of these detainees person appear to have wrongful death and survival claims against the U.S..
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