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

Geneva – The United Nations rights chief on Sept 7 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 the 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 the crackdown.The UN rights chief on Sept 7 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.“I urge the United States to halt the return of people to places where they could suffer irreparable harm, including Haiti, and to ensure due process for all removals to third countries,” he told the council.Turk also voiced alarm at the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency’s reported plans to “equip immigration agents with electric shock gloves”, warning this would “increase the violence associated with their operations”.The plan to purchase the shock gloves, which was first reported by The Associated Press, calls for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the ICE parent agency, to spend US$10 million to US$20 million (S$12.6 to S$25.3 million) on what are described as “distraction and de-escalation” devices.ICE has been criticised for a series of fatal shootings during enforcement operations, including those of two American citizens in Minnesota in January who were involved in anti-ICE protests.Critics have focused on the forceful tactics used by ICE agents in rounding up migrants and on an alleged lowering of the standards of training for new recruits. AFP