Solitary Confinement in Ice Detention: “The more data you get released, the more you notice,” the researchers say.
DHS announces Midway Blitz operations targeting immigrants in Illinois
The Department of Homeland Security announced Operation Midway Blitz in Chicago, targeting undocumented immigrants who committed crimes.
Immigration detention centres lock more people in solitary cells than previously understood.
New data shows that thousands of immigrants are now in solitary confinement under the Biden administration than previously reported, and despite documented risks to human health, the use of so-called “segregation” tactics remains high under the Trump administration.
“The more data are released, the more medical advisor to human rights physicians, Dr. Katherine Peeler, and Dr. Katherine Peeler, assistant professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School.
The Trump administration dramatically increased the use of ice detention amid the national crackdown on immigration. Currently, around 60,000 people have joined ice detention last year, from less than 40,000.
The number of people placed in solitary is rising simultaneously, but there is also a proportion of the overall detained population, according to a new report by non-human rights-free doctors and Harvard researchers.
Surprisingly, the data show that those who make up a “vulnerable population” (which can include people who are mental health, medical illness, or at risk for the general population” spend on solitary confinement on average compared to others in solitary confinement.
The US immigration and customs enforcement agency did not respond to email requests for comment. However, Ice has historically argued that he has not used “confinement of cells.” The agency reports the number of people held in “separation” each month.
But those isolated from the general population “are in isolated cells trapped and trapped cells without control of the environment,” Peeler said.
ICE defines “vulnerable” detainees as pregnancy, nursing or elderly people. People with serious mental health conditions or medical illnesses. People who are at risk of harm because of their identity or the victims of sexual assault or abuse.
Quarantine can have serious health effects
The average consecutive days of vulnerable people have skyrocketed over 40 days last year, from less than 20 days when ice began reporting these placements in 2022.
According to the ACLU, human rights experts recognize 15 days as the threshold for when solitary confinement should be considered torture.
The agency argues that using a segregated home is “a serious step that requires careful consideration of alternatives.” It added that “management isolation due to special vulnerabilities should only be used as a last resort.”
Decades of research have revealed the devastating effects of solitary confinement on the human mind and body.
Long-term isolation in detention can cause psychological symptoms ranging from delusions to PTSD and depression, to depression that can lead to suicide, Peeler said.
From a physical health perspective, “the loneliness can be exacerbated by loneliness confinement,” she said. “In every sense, that’s a bad thing.”
Other researchers found a high rate of isolated confinement among detained immigrants.
In 2021, researchers conducted a telephone survey of 203 immigrants who had previously been detained in immigration detention. A 2025 study published in the Journal of Migration and Health found that over half reported suffering from depression or PTSD, and 45% reported experiencing solitary confinement while in custody.
Increased dependence on solitary confinement
The United States has the world’s largest immigration detention system, and the Trump administration is expanding it even further.
With billions of new funds from Congress, the administration plans to add another 80,000 beds to the system. This allows ICE to detain more than 140,000 people per day.
“We are pleased to announce that we are a sought after exploring the importance of our efforts to ensure that we are a part of our pursuit of exploring our efforts,” said Eunice Hyun-hee Cho, Senior Advisor to the ACLU National Prison Project. “It is the context of a rapidly growing detention situation, with fewer surveillance and fewer incentives to protect people as much as possible for facilities to protect people.”
Isolated confinement is a “barometer” of the stress of the detention system, she said. “It is used for many purposes when a facility is under stress, if an officer is trying to control a problem or issue, or if he is trying to impose a punitive order in a facility where other assistance may be exacerbated.”
Alevik Aveveen, co-author of the Harvard Law School report and director of empirical research, said the climb began before Trump took office.
Data obtained through the FOIA request by she and other researchers encapsulated a 14-month period between April 2024 and May 2025, extending to the end of the Biden administration and the beginning of the second Trump administration. Over 10,500 people spent their time in solitary confinement at detention centers across the country during that time frame.
The data reveals a growing reliance on solitary confinement that begins in 2021, and said it sets new records in 2024.
The new regulations in December 2024 required that reporting for all isolated individuals, regardless of their duration or their vulnerability. The numbers quickly surged, on average 80% higher than before the policy change, according to the report. Researchers found that hundreds or thousands of solitary confinement cases have not been previously counted.
“We wanted to see how bad things are, or even more,” Aveveen told USA Today. “So far, we see things getting worse.”
Lauren Villagran can be accessed at lvillagran@usatoday.com.
