Voluntary Departures Rise Sevenfold in ICE Detention Centers
Voluntary departure agreements increased sevenfold in the first 16 months of the current administration compared with the prior period. Detainees at multiple facilities have reported poor food, inadequate medical care, and use of solitary confinement. State and local officials have sought inspections and contract changes at three centers.
Voluntary departure agreements from ICE detention rose sevenfold in the first 16 months of the current administration compared with the previous 16 months, according to a Stateline analysis. The increase coincides with expanded detention under the Laken Riley Act and a July 2025 policy that ended bond eligibility for many immigrants who entered the country without authorization.
Detainees at the Delaney Hall facility in New Jersey described spoiled and expired food, sometimes containing live worms, along with inadequate medical care and unsanitary housing. Participants in a hunger strike there also refused work assignments.
Federal officers used pepper spray and pepper balls against demonstrators outside the facility on Monday.
The Department of Homeland
Security posted on social media Tuesday that there was “NO HUNGER STRIKE” at Delaney Hall. White House border czar Tom Homan later stated that strikers would be force-fed “if it gets bad enough.” DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said Wednesday that only a handful of individuals were refusing meals and attributed the action to requests for different food.
The Arizona Daily Star reported that detainees at the Eloy Detention Center described solitary confinement used to pressure them into voluntary departure. One detainee said a guard told him the goal was to make life miserable enough to prompt a request for deportation.
DHS and CoreCivic, which operates the facility, denied that segregation was used for that purpose. Similar hunger strikes have been reported at the Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Pennsylvania and the Adelanto ICE Processing Center in California.
CNN reported that nearly 50 people have died in ICE custody since January 2025, the highest total in at least two decades, with 2026 on pace to exceed that figure. The Associated Press reported at least 10 suicides among detainees since January 2025.
State and local officials in New Jersey, California, and Pennsylvania have requested inspections, released reports, or considered new contract language to increase oversight. California lawmakers advanced a bill this week that would expand the state attorney general’s authority to investigate detention facilities.
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