Which ICE facilities accounted for the highest number of deaths each year since 2015?
Executive summary
Available reporting and public datasets show recurring "hotspot" detention sites—Eloy (AZ), LaSalle (LA), Adelanto (CA), Otay Mesa (CA) and newer large sites such as North Lake (MI)—have been repeatedly flagged in media and advocacy accounts for multiple in‑custody deaths since 2015, but the sources provided do not include a single, complete year‑by‑year, facility‑by‑facility tally that would allow a definitive ranking for every fiscal year since 2015 [1] [2] [3] [4] [5].
1. The question being asked and the limits of the record
The user seeks a year‑by‑year identification of the single ICE facility with the most deaths from 2015 onward, but the available sources are a mix of investigative pieces, advocacy reports and fragmented ICE/FOIA extracts rather than a consolidated public table mapping fatalities to facility and fiscal year; as a result, a strictly authoritative, year‑by‑year “highest number” list cannot be produced from these sources alone [4] [6].
2. Recurrent facilities flagged by reporting since 2015
Multiple independent reports and news investigations repeatedly single out certain sites as having unusually high cumulative death counts or multiple deaths clustered in short spans: Eloy Detention Center in Arizona has been described as having the highest number of deaths historically and multiple deaths documented in 2015 and earlier [1], LaSalle Detention Facility in Louisiana drew attention after three deaths were reported there since October 1, 2015 [2] [3], and facilities like Adelanto and Otay Mesa appear in case studies criticizing medical care and linking deaths to inadequate treatment [2] [7].
3. What the counts we do have show and what they do not
Advocacy groups and reporting cited aggregate figures—155 in‑custody deaths between October 2013 and January 2016 per AP/ICE data cited by local coverage [4], and calls in 2015–2016 noting 11 deaths since October 1, 2015 [2] [3]—but these aggregations stop short of attributing a single “most deadly” facility for each fiscal year; scholarly analyses focus on cause patterns (not facility rankings), for example documenting suicide trends from 2010–2020 and a rise in the proportion of deaths attributable to suicide between 2018 and 2020 [6].
4. Recent developments and new centers changing the landscape
Reporting from late 2025 and early 2026 shows 2025 became an exceptionally deadly year overall and highlights newer or expanding facilities—North Lake in Michigan recorded its first reported death amid a notably lethal year, and national timelines cataloging 2025 deaths emphasize a broader rise in fatalities rather than concentration at a single longstanding site [5] [8]. These developments underscore how changing detention footprints (new large facilities, shifting contracts) can shift where deaths occur, complicating simple year‑by‑year facility rankings [8].
5. Competing narratives, agendas and what can be done with the data
Advocates use facility‑level stories (Eloy, LaSalle, Adelanto, Otay Mesa) to argue systemic medical neglect and call for independent investigations, while ICE and some officials point to low overall in‑custody death rates and emphasize procedural compliance; the sources provided show both strands—advocacy counts and critical case reviews [2] [4]—and also scholarly restraint noting limits of small numbers for statistical inference [6]. Because no single source in the packet provides a verified, year‑by‑year facility ranking, the most responsible answer is to name the repeatedly cited hotspots above and to note that compiling a definitive annual “most deaths” list requires ICE’s machine‑readable, year‑and‑facility breakdowns or a FOIA‑based dataset that is not present in these reports [1] [2] [4] [6] [5].