A U.S. Senate investigation has uncovered dozens of credible reports of medical neglect and poor conditions in immigration detention centers nationwide. Detainees have been denied insulin, left without medical attention for days, and forced to compete for clean water. These findings raise serious scrutiny about how the government oversees its vast detention system.
The report, released by Senator 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 these issues point 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. These accounts describe 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. According to the report, a Homeland Security staff member assigned to one detention site told investigators that “ambulances have to come almost every day.”
Senator 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 cases such as a diabetic detainee who went without glucose monitoring or insulin for two days and became delirious before medical attention was given. Another detainee had to wait months to receive medication to treat gastrointestinal issues.
The Senate investigation also identified persistent complaints about food and water, drawing evidence 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 reached out multiple times to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for comment on the report’s findings but did not receive a response. The Homeland Security Department previously criticized Ossoff’s first report in August, calling the allegations of detainee abuse false and accusing him of trying to “score political points.”
Attorneys working with detainees across the country have corroborated some of the issues with medical care and food firsthand.
Stephanie Alvarez-Jones, a Southeast regional attorney for the National Immigration Project, shared the story of one client detained at Angola’s Camp J facility in Louisiana over the past two months. The man, in his 60s, experienced stroke-like symptoms, including partial paralysis, and was eventually hospitalized and transferred to an intensive care unit for several days. Doctors prescribed him a walker to aid his recovery, but detention staff initially refused to allow him to have it upon his return and placed him in a segregation cell.
“He still could not walk by himself,” Alvarez-Jones 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.” Guards allegedly insinuated to the man that they believed he was faking his illness. He was eventually given the choice to remain in segregation with the walker or return to the general detainee population. He has since relied on help from other detainees to eat and use the bathroom as he recovers.
Amelia Dagen, a senior attorney with the Amica Center for Immigrant Rights, is working on a lawsuit against ICE and officials in charge of national immigration enforcement efforts. Several of the organization’s clients have had to fight for access to medication at the Baltimore holding facility.
Through the lawsuit, Dagen said, the government admitted in court that it does not have a food vendor to provide three meals a day or any onsite medical staff at the facility, initially designed to hold detainees for about 12 hours. Since January, however, detainees are often held for up to a week due to increased immigration enforcement actions.
“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. “Sometimes it would be a protein bar or just bread and water. There was very little nutritional value and little variety. Sometimes it was a military ration component, but just rice and beans—not a full meal.”
Dagen also noted that detainees must ask for bottles of water, which are not always provided. ICE has argued that sinks attached to cell toilets provide a continuous water supply, but detainees have complained about the poor taste.
“This is 100% a problem of their own making,” Dagen said of the authorities. “These hold rooms were not used 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.”
https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/senate-report-details-dozens-cases-medical-neglect-federal-127050831
