Senate report details dozens of cases of medical neglect in federal
immigration detention centers
[November 01, 2025]
By CLAUDIA LAUER
A U.S. Senate investigation has uncovered dozens of credible reports of
medical neglect and poor conditions in immigration detention centers
nationwide — with detainees denied insulin, left without medical
attention for days and forced to compete for clean water — raising
scrutiny about how the government oversees its vast detention system.
The report released by Sen. Jon Ossoff, a Democrat from Georgia, is the
second in a series of inquiries examining alleged human rights abuses in
the immigration detention system. It builds on an August review that
detailed mistreatment of children and pregnant women and draws from more
than 500 reports of abuse and neglect collected between January and
August.
The latest findings document more than 80 credible cases of medical
neglect and widespread complaints of inadequate food and water. Senate
investigators say that points to systemic failures in federal detention
oversight.
The report cites accounts from detainees, attorneys, advocates, news
reports and at least one Department of Homeland Security employee,
describing delays in medical care that, in some cases, proved
life-threatening. One detainee reportedly suffered a heart attack after
complaining of chest pain for days without treatment. Others said
inhalers and asthma medication were withheld, or that detainees waited
weeks for prescriptions to be filled.
A Homeland Security staff member assigned to one detention site told
investigators that “ambulances have to come almost every day,” according
to the report.
Ossoff said the findings reflect a deeper failure of oversight within
federal immigration detention.
“Americans overwhelmingly demand and deserve secure borders. Americans
also overwhelmingly oppose the abuse and neglect of detainees,” Ossoff
told The Associated Press. “Every human being is entitled to dignity and
humane treatment. That is why I have for years investigated and exposed
abuses in prisons, jails, and detention centers, and that is why this
work will continue.”
The medical reports also detailed how a diabetic detainee went without
glucose monitoring or insulin for two days and became delirious before
medical attention was given and that it took months for another detainee
to receive medication to treat gastrointestinal issues.
Expired milk, foul water, scant food are reported
The Senate investigation also identified persistent complaints about
food and water, including evidence drawn from court filings, depositions
and interviews. Detainees described meals too small for adults, milk
that was sometimes expired, and water that smelled foul or appeared to
make children sick. At one Texas facility, a teenager said adults were
forced to compete with children for bottles of clean water when staff
left out only a few at a time.
The Associated Press asked U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for
comment on the report's findings multiple times Wednesday and Thursday,
but the agency did not provide a response. The Homeland Security
Department previously criticized Ossoff's first report in August, saying
the allegations of detainees being abused were false and accusing him of
trying to “score political points.”
Attorneys for some of those detained at facilities across the country
said they've seen some of the issues with medical care and food
firsthand.
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Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., speaks during an interview at Dobbins Air
Reserve Base, April 26, 2025, in Marietta, Ga. (AP Photo/Brynn
Anderson, File)
Stephanie Alvarez-Jones, a Southeast regional attorney for the
National Immigration Project, said one of the organization's clients
was denied a prescribed medical device while being detained at
Angola's Camp J facility in Louisiana in the last two months. The
man, in his 60s, experienced stroke-like symptoms, including partial
paralysis, and was eventually taken to the hospital, where he was
transferred to an intensive care unit for several days.
Doctors there prescribed him a walker to help him move during his
recovery, but Alvarez-Jones said the detention staff would not let
him have it when he first returned and placed him in a segregation
cell.
“He still could not walk by himself," she said. “He still had
paralysis on his left side.” She added: “He was not able to get up
and get his food, to shower by himself or to use the bathroom
without assistance. So he had to lay in soiled bedsheets because he
wasn't able to get up.”
Alvarez-Jones said the guards had insinuated to the man that they
believed he was faking his illness. He was eventually given the
choice of staying in the segregation cell and being allowed a
walker, or returning to the general detainee population. She said
he's been relying on the help of others in the general population to
eat and use the bathroom as he recovers.
The Baltimore field office is examined
Amelia Dagen, a senior attorney with the Amica Center for Immigrant
Rights, is working on a lawsuit against the Immigration and Customs
Enforcement and Removal Operations Baltimore Field Office as well as
officials in charge of national immigration enforcement efforts.
Dagen said several of the organization's clients have had to fight
for access to medication at the Baltimore holding facility. Through
the lawsuit, she said the government agency had to admit in the
court record that it does not have a food vendor to provide three
meals a day or any onsite medical staff at the facility that was
initially only supposed to hold detainees for about 12 hours.
But since January and the various immigration enforcement actions,
it's much more likely that detainees are held for as much as a week
in the Baltimore Hold Room.
“What we started hearing very quickly, maybe in February, was that
the food they were being fed three times a day was incredibly
inadequate," Dagen said. “We would hear sometimes it would be a
protein bar or sometimes just bread and water. There is very little
nutritional value and very little variety. I mean, sometimes it was
a military ration component, but just the rice and beans, not a full
meal.”
Dagen said the detainees also have to ask for bottles of water and
they aren't always given. The ICE office has taken the stance that
the sinks attached to the cell toilets are a continuous supply of
water. But Dagen said the detainees complained the sink water has a
bad taste.
“This is 100% a problem of their own making,” she said of the
authorities. “These hold rooms were not used in this way prior to
2025. They are setting themselves these quotas, removing discretion
to release people and trying to arrest numbers of people that are
just impractical … fully knowing they don’t have the ability to hold
these people.”
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