A U.S. Senate investigation has uncovered dozens of credible reports of medical neglect and poor conditions in immigration detention centers nationwide. Detainees have reportedly been 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.
### Medical Neglect and Inadequate Care
The latest findings document over 80 credible cases of medical neglect alongside widespread complaints about 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 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.
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 incidents such as a diabetic detainee who went without glucose monitoring or insulin for two days and became delirious before receiving medical attention. Another detainee waited months to receive medication for gastrointestinal issues.
### Issues with Food and Water
The Senate investigation also identified persistent complaints about food and water, collecting 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 reported that 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 sought comment from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) multiple times over two days, but the agency did not respond.
The Department of Homeland Security previously criticized Ossoff’s first report in August, calling the allegations of detainee abuse false and accusing him of attempting to “score political points.”
### Firsthand Accounts from Attorneys
Attorneys representing detainees across the country have corroborated some of the reported issues regarding medical care and food quality.
Stephanie Alvarez-Jones, a Southeast regional attorney for the National Immigration Project, shared the story of a man detained at Angola’s Camp J facility in Louisiana. The man, in his 60s, experienced stroke-like symptoms—including partial paralysis—and was eventually hospitalized in intensive care.
Despite doctors prescribing a walker to aid his recovery, detention staff initially denied him the device upon return and placed him in a segregation cell. “He still could not walk by himself,” Alvarez-Jones recounted. “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.”
Furthermore, Alvarez-Jones said guards insinuated they believed the man was faking his illness. He was eventually given the choice to stay in segregation and be allowed the walker or return to the general detainee population. Since then, he has relied on assistance from other detainees for basic needs as he recovers.
### Examination of the Baltimore Field Office
Amelia Dagen, a senior attorney with the Amica Center for Immigrant Rights, is involved in a lawsuit against ICE and Removal Operations’ Baltimore Field Office, as well as national immigration enforcement officials.
Dagen said several clients have had to fight for access to medications at the Baltimore holding facility. According to the lawsuit, the government admitted that the facility lacks a food vendor capable of providing three meals a day and has no onsite medical staff. Originally designed to hold detainees for about 12 hours, detainees have been held for as long as a week since January due to increased 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 is very little nutritional value and very little variety. Sometimes it was a military ration component, but just rice and beans—not a full meal.”
She also noted that detainees must request bottled water, which is not always provided. ICE maintains that sinks attached to cell toilets provide a continuous water supply, but detainees complained that the sink water tastes bad.
“This is 100% a problem of their own making,” Dagen 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.”
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/10/31/medical-neglect-federal-immigration/
