Immigrants held in U.S. custody have been dying at a similar rate over the past two presidential administrations, government documents reveal, amid an ongoing uproar over the issue.
The statistics reveal that the deaths of would-be migrants are a persistent problem that have continued at a similar rate for years, across administrations of both parties.
Government documents obtained by the Washington Examiner through an information request reveal that 12 immigrants died in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in 2016, President Barack Obama's final year in office.
That is on par with the number of deaths in the first two years of the Trump administration, when a combined 22 immigrants died in ICE custody.
Ten died in 2017, Trump's first year in office, and 12 died in 2018, according to information from the American Immigration Lawyers Association.
12 immigrants died in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in 2016, the same number that died last year, government statistics reveal
When Obama first took office in 2009 (and was still securing control of nation's policy apparatus), 10 people died in ICE custody. Five died in 2012, according to the data. Obama's tenure saw a spike in child immigrant crossings from Central America, just as President Trump has had to contend with migrant caravans that have made their way through Mexico.
The information on the longstanding and largely consistent death rates of those in ICE's care come as the Trump administration continues to take fire for the consequences of its child-separation policy, as well as the deaths in custody.
Former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly distanced himself from the administration's immigration policy in a speech at Duke University
