ICE Detention Centers Report 28 Serious Self-Harm Incidents in Past Year

Detailed 911 call logs obtained by NBC News from six immigration detention centers show 28 incidents involving serious self-harm over the past year. Four days before Christmas at an ICE detention center in Texas, a 33-year-old pregnant immigrant banged her head against a wall.

Guards attempted to place her in a vehicle for hospital transport, but she refused, leading them to call 911. The call was one of more than 1,000 emergency requests made from six immigration detention centers. Other documented incidents included one man swallowing a razor blade, another drinking cleaning chemicals, and at least three individuals cutting their own wrists.

Five deaths by suicide have been reported in detention facilities so far this year, the highest number in two decades. Over the previous four years, two suicides occurred while holding half as many people. The total number of deaths in custody in 2025 tripled from the previous year as the number of detainees doubled.

ICE currently holds nearly 60,000 people, up from roughly 34,000 during the previous administration, with average detention length rising to 50 days from 36.

Nineteen instances of facilities failing to meet suicide prevention standards have occurred since the start of the current administration. The most recent suicide took place earlier this month at Stewart Detention Center in Georgia, where an ICE inspection found incomplete staff training and gaps in required 15-minute monitoring checks.

009 percent of the detained population. U.S. citizens. Dr. Sanjay Basu of the University of California, San Francisco, said such deaths are highly preventable with early assessments and regular monitoring of suicidal detainees.