"It's Just Inhumane": Arizona Detention Centers Exposed as Death Traps for ICE Detainees

Medical Neglect and Abuse: The Standard Operating Procedure

The testimonies are damning, and they're piling up. Medical negligence. Verbal and physical abuse from guards. Overcrowding so severe that detainees sleep on small metal beds in filthy clothes. Rotten food. Unfiltered, contaminated water. No meaningful access to legal representation.

These are the conditions inside U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers in Arizona, according to first-hand accounts presented at an April 2 town hall in Phoenix. The briefing, organized by U.S. Representatives Yassamin Ansari (D-3), Adelita Grijalva (D-7), and Greg Stanton (D-4), brought together immigration advocates, attorneys, family members of detainees, and former detainees to document what's happening inside facilities like the Eloy Detention Center and Florence Correctional Center.

The numbers tell part of the story: at least 45 deaths in ICE custody since January 2025. But the testimonies reveal the systemic cruelty behind those deaths.

Take Arbella "Yari" Rodriguez Marquez, a lesbian woman with leukemia currently being held at Eloy without access to proper medical care. Or Emmanuel Damas, a Haitian asylum-seeker who died at Florence from an untreated tooth infection. These aren't isolated tragedies -- they're the predictable result of a system designed to warehouse human beings with no regard for their health or dignity.

"This Is a Public Health Issue"

Phillip Rody, a representative from the Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project, didn't mince words: "Under this administration, increased immigration enforcement has also led to a dramatic over-population of these detention centers. And this is really just not a space issue, this is a public health issue that threatens the well-being of individuals who are detained."

Rody warned that two new detention facilities slated to open in Surprise and Marana will replicate the same deadly conditions. "I don't think there's any reason to believe that this facility in Surprise will be any different than what we see in Eloy and Florence," he said. "I really think people should expect to see similar things -- a facility that fundamentally doesn't respect the duty of care that ICE has to people in its custody."

Representative Grijalva echoed that assessment after the briefing. "There's so many things that happen in this administration that have not happened before," she told CALO News. "When you hear the fact that people are eating rotten food, not purified water, have horrible conditions, getting clothes that are dirty back to wear -- I mean, the amount of germs and infection that are happening on a regular basis, you see that translated in the number of people that have died in detention and how that continues to increase."

The Deportation Machine: Veterans Aren't Exempt

The Trump administration's deportation apparatus is operating at scale. Since January 2025, DHS has detained over 68,000 migrants currently being held in detention centers nationwide, according to data from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC). The administration claims to have deported over 605,000 migrants, according to a December DHS press release.

One of those deportees: Marlon Parris, a U.S. Army veteran who served two tours in Iraq after 9/11.

Parris migrated to the U.S. from Trinidad and Tobago in the 1990s. In 2011, he was convicted of a nonviolent felony drug charge. He received a letter from ICE and DHS stating he would be allowed to remain in the country despite the conviction. That assurance meant nothing under Trump's second term.

Two days after Trump's inauguration, Parris was detained. His wife, Tanisha Hartwell-Parris, said authorities offered no explanation beyond, "We have orders. He's on a list."

After a prolonged stay at Florence Detention Center, Parris was deported. Hartwell-Parris and their seven children have secured citizenship in another country and are leaving the U.S. "We were forced to face the reality that we could no longer build a future here together," she said at the briefing. "We are choosing stability, dignity and peace for our family, even if it means doing so outside of the country he once served."

Parris is one of an estimated 10,000 veterans deported since the beginning of Trump's second term.

"They're Not Just Going After Criminals"

Immigration attorney Salvador Macias explained how the detention system has expanded under Trump. In previous administrations, ICE typically detained people after they were arrested for a crime and then transferred to ICE custody after a criminal judge released them. Now, the net is wider.

"The difference now... they're not just going after criminals. They're picking up people just because they're collateral," Macias said.

That expansion is funded by a staggering budget. Last summer, Trump's budget bill allocated $175 billion to DHS -- on top of an already bloated multi-billion dollar budget. The result: over 360 known detention centers nationwide, according to Freedom for Immigrants' interactive detention center map, with more facilities opening in Arizona and elsewhere.

Congressional Oversight Means Nothing Without Enforcement

Representatives Grijalva and Ansari have conducted congressional oversight visits to Arizona detention centers and met with constituents like Rodriguez Marquez, whose health continues to decline in custody. But oversight without enforcement is theater.

The testimonies at the April 2 briefing make clear that ICE detention centers in Arizona are operating as death traps. Rotten food, contaminated water, medical neglect, and overcrowding aren't bugs in the system -- they're features. And with two new facilities opening soon, the body count will only rise.

"This is not just about my husband," Hartwell-Parris said. "This is about the values we claim to uphold and whether we truly honor the sacrifices made by those who serve."

Right now, the answer is no.