Conditions of ICE detention centers defy standards of American ‘decency’
Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has proven itself a deeply flawed institution, but it has become especially so under the second Trump administration. Today, ICE officers operate with seemingly total impunity, and seem to feel within their rights to act as judge, jury, and executioner all at once.
Alex Pretti, Renee Nicole Good, and Keith Porter Jr. are just three of the many lives taken by agents who believed themselves to be above the law. Furthermore, upon incarceration by the American government, noncitizens face terrible medical neglect, receive spoiled food, and are coerced into signing deportation paperwork, according to the American Immigration Council. From the internment of Japanese Americans to the mass detention of Jewish people across Europe, history makes it pretty clear that nothing good comes from this sort of mass internment. Under the guise of “just following the law,” large-scale detention used to control or exclude certain groups has consistently resulted in widespread human rights abuse and loss of life.
These abhorrent conditions have led to at least 27 deaths this year alone, and the United States is on track to seeing the highest annual total of deaths from such causes in over two decades. Many detainees face wounds and infections, and in many cases, injuries are untreated until septic. Despite abhorrent conditions and increasing deaths in ICE detention, the Trump administration has only sought to expand their operations, seeking to acquire more than 20 additional warehouses... to store people in. This plan would increase detention capacity to 96,000 people at any given time. The design and intent of these facilities are unmistakable. Floor plans resemble concentration camps: rows of bunk beds under constant surveillance, minimal access to outdoor space, and little to no access to lawyers or immigration courts.
Recent hunger and labor strikes by hundreds of detained citizens at the privately-operated Delaney Hall detention center have generated widespread scrutiny and protest, drawing further attention to the inhumanities that riddle the institution. As the Trump administration only seeks to expand ICE operations, they’ve significantly reduced the amount of training required for employment. This doesn’t reflect the motivations of an institution looking to operate at a higher standard of professionalism; it reflects those of an institution looking to carelessly round up just about whoever they can get their hands on.
Regardless of the “law,” human beings should not be subjected to death by the US government; people should not be removed from their families by the US government. ICE agents of today should remember that “I was just following orders,” was not a defense accepted at the Nuremberg trials of Nazi officials.
90% of people in ICE custody are held in detention centers owned by private companies, run for profit. That’s why the government disregards the obvious, glaring issues… it makes people money. ICE’s oversight system (in which another department of the organization essentially signs off and says: “yes, we’re not doing anything illegal!”) permits abuse and stifles accountability. Why would they bother doing otherwise? The people making these decisions and policies will never have to risk experiencing these conditions; they will never be questioned for their accent or the color of their skin; they’ll never risk being denied their life-saving medications, and they’ll certainly never risk being sent to a country of which they have no ties to, and no way to get out of (something that has occurred to over 25,000 migrants). Reform needs to come immediately, and it starts by making sure that the people in power genuinely care about what happens on their country’s soil. The elite, which has dominated politics and policy-making for so long, will never represent the people. To them, the people are just another number that impacts their bank account.
by Lily Kissinger and Veronica Holladay
Published October 5, 2026
Oshkosh West Index Volume 123 Issue 1