ICE custody deaths are at a 2-decade high. An Afghan refugee who helped U.S. forces is one of the latest to die.

Dallas — On March 13, Afghan immigrant Naseer Paktiawal acquired a name from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which had just arrested his brother in North Texas. The very first thing his brother instructed him was that he wasn’t feeling nicely. 

“I instructed [the agent] my brother wants assist. He is not feeling good. He is feeling ache in his physique,” he instructed CBS Information in Richardson, Texas. “He instructed me, don’t be concerned about it. We now have a nurse. We’ll care for him. And he hung up the telephone on me.” 

Lower than 24 hours later, he was instructed his brother, 41-year-old Mohammad Nazeer Paktiawal, had died. 

Paktiawal, who was evacuated from Afghanistan through the U.S. navy withdrawal from the nation in the summertime of 2021, was the twelfth individual to die this yr whereas in ICE custody. Two days later, a 19-year-old Mexican man died by presumed suicide. The 13 deaths are greater than triple the quantity that had died by this level final yr. In 2025, 31 ICE detainees died, a two-decade excessive, in keeping with a CBS Information evaluation of ICE information. 

The rising dying toll comes as ICE’s detention population hit report highs amid President Trump’s aggressive crackdown on unlawful immigration. As of early February, ICE was holding greater than 68,000 individuals in detention facilities throughout the U.S., company figures present.

However even after accounting for the variety of individuals in detention every year, 2025 nonetheless had the very best dying charge — 5.6 individuals per 10,000 detainees — since 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, a CBS Information evaluation discovered.

Paktiawal had no pre-existing medical circumstances, in keeping with his household and ICE, and his sudden dying continues to be beneath investigation. His household mentioned he fought alongside the U.S. navy in Afghanistan for roughly a decade. 

“He was a hero,” Imrain Paktiawal, 12, considered one of his sons, instructed CBS Information. “And he can be all the time a hero.”

Paktiawal is the primary Afghan nationwide to die in ICE custody since 2008. ICE said Paktiawal was arrested in a focused enforcement operation after native arrests on expenses of fraud and theft. These circumstances had not been adjudicated on the time of his dying, in keeping with native officers.

In an announcement, the Division of Homeland Safety mentioned Paktiawal entered the U.S. legally by way of the parole immigration coverage, which permits officers to rapidly admit immigrants on humanitarian grounds. However DHS mentioned that standing, which is short-term in nature, expired final August.

ICE detains individuals the federal government is searching for to deport, comparable to these accused of being within the U.S. illegally and different noncitizens decided to be deportable, together with due to legal offenses.

ICE detention facilities have lengthy been criticized for offering insufficient medical care. In current months, congressional Democrats have alleged human rights abuses, together with medical neglect, in ICE detention, and demanded extra oversight from the Division of Homeland Safety. A number of teams have filed lawsuits alleging inhumane circumstances in ICE detention. 

ICE has repeatedly denied studies of substandard circumstances at its detention websites.

Some detainees who died final yr complained to relations earlier than their deaths that they had been unable to acquire correct care.

Isidro Perez, who was 75 and had coronary heart illness when he was arrested in Key Largo, Florida, final June, instructed his former associate he was having chest pains and wasn’t getting his medicine whereas in detention. ICE’s report on Perez alleged a doctor ordered his medicine whereas in detention. Perez died on June 26, three weeks after he was detained.  

Maksym Chernyak, a Ukrainian nationwide who died in February 2025 of a stroke, instructed his spouse and cellmate that he was refused speedy medical care and drugs regardless of displaying signs together with coronary heart palpitations and blood in his stool, in keeping with Human Rights Watch.

ICE’s personal dying studies additionally present cases of delayed care. Brayan Rayo-Garzon, a 27 yr previous from Colombia who died by suicide in April 2025, had a psychological well being appointment that was rescheduled twice. Earlier than he had the appointment, he was discovered unresponsive in his cell. Leo Cruz Silva was 34 when he died by suicide final October, two days after ICE medical employees documented he was experiencing a psychological well being disaster. 

Rayo-Garzon and Cruz Silva are amongst seven detainees who died of obvious suicides because the begin of 2025. One other detainee’s dying was dominated a homicide: ICE brokers held 55-year previous Campos Lunas down till he stopped respiration. An ICE report on his dying said guards had been intervening to forestall him from harming himself. 

ICE has lengthy denied allegations that it gives insufficient medical care. With every dying the company proclaims, it states that “Complete medical care is supplied from the second people arrive and all through the whole lot of their keep.” 

“That is the perfect healthcare that many aliens have acquired of their total lives,” ICE wrote in a number of press releases. 

However Naseer Paktiawal believes his brother would nonetheless be alive in the present day had he not been arrested. 

“I need the reply for his kids, for my household, for this group,” he mentioned. “What occurred to my brother?”