UN chief urges ‘accountability’ after 23 die in US immigration custody in 2026

The United Nations rights chief on Monday demanded accountability for swelling numbers of deaths in US immigration custody, and urged Washington to halt deportations to places where people face “irreparable harm”.

Speaking before the UN Human Rights Council, Volker Turk highlighted that “four more people have died in US immigration custody since my last update to this council” in June.

That meant there had been “a total of 23 deaths in 2026 alone”, he said, insisting that “there needs to be accountability for these deaths”.

US President Donald Trump has made combating illegal immigration a top priority of his second term, with authorities rounding up thousands of people and expanding detention centres.

A joint report by Human Rights Watch and Physicians for Human Rights in June said the rate of people dying in ICE custody has reached its highest level in over a decade amid Trump’s crackdown.

The UN rights chief on Monday also called out a range of other US immigration enforcement practices, including forcing migrant returns to dangerous places and to countries they had no connection to.