A review of public documents by The Associated Press has found that at least two dozen U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement employees and contractors have been charged with crimes since 2020 — and their wrongdoing includes patterns of physical and sexual abuse and corruption. Most cases happened before Congress gave ICE $75 billion to hire more agents and detain more people. But experts say these kinds of crimes could accelerate given the volume of new employees. An ICE spokesperson says officials take allegations of misconduct "extremely seriously” and that ICE thoroughly vets new applicants.

Prolonged detention has become more common in President Donald Trump’s second term, at least partly because a new policy generally prohibits immigration judges from releasing detainees while their deportation cases wind through backlogged courts. The number of people in Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention has topped 70,000 for the first time. The agency said there were 7,252 people in custody at least six months in mid-January, including 79 held for more than two years. That’s more than double the 2,849 who were in ICE custody at least six months in December 2024, the last full month of Joe Biden’s presidency.

A Mexican immigrant who suffered a broken skull last month in Minnesota says he was beaten by immigration officers in an unprovoked attack. Alberto Castañeda Mondragón says the federal agents began hitting him right after they pulled him from a vehicle. He was hospitalized with eight skull fractures and five life-threatening brain hemorrhages. Officers claimed he ran into a wall, but medical staff immediately doubted that account. His case has sparked calls for accountability and transparency, but it's not clear whether any authorities are investigating. The Department of Homeland Security has not responded to repeated requests for comment on the case.

State and local officials are pushing back against federal plans to expand immigrant detention facilities. President Donald Trump's administration is scouting locations across the U.S. for new sites, sparking protests and legal challenges. In Minnesota, fatal shootings during immigration enforcement have intensified scrutiny on ICE. In Virginia, a proposed detention center drew hundreds of people to a tense public hearing. Kansas City officials have passed a moratorium attempt to block a new ICE detention site. Meanwhile, New Mexico's legislature is advancing a bill to ban state and local contracts for ICE facilities. A law Trump signed last year includes $45 billion to expand ice detention facilities.

Dozens of immigrant families protested behind the fences of a Texas detention facility where a 5-year-old boy Ecuadorian boy and his father were sent this week after being detained in Minnesota. Aerial photos taken by The Associated Press on Saturday showed some of the detainees coordinating to form “SOS."  They were standing outside the residence areas of the South Texas Family Residential Center in the rural town of Dilley. One detainee told AP families inside sought to send a message that the wanted to be treated with dignity and according to the law. The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

Federal immigration officials say more than 100 people have been detained in Maine this week as part of an enforcement surge targeting what ICE calls “the worst of the worst.” But court records and legal filings reviewed by The Associated Press show the cases cited by the agency span a wide range of legal circumstances, including serious violent felony convictions, dismissed charges and unresolved immigration proceedings. ICE has released details on only a small number of arrests and provided limited information about the rest. State and local officials, attorneys and judges say the lack of context has made it difficult to assess who is being detained and why.

A private security guard told a 911 dispatcher that a Cuban immigrant at a Texas detention center tried to hang himself, was restrained by guards in handcuffs, and stopped breathing during a subsequent struggle. A caller identifying himself as Lt. Paul Walden called for emergency help as medical staff tried to revive Geraldo Lunas Campos on Jan. 3 at Camp East Montana in El Paso, Texas. A county medical examiner ruled earlier this week that the death was a homicide. Walden says that Lunas Campos “tried to hang himself, and then we put him in cuffs, and he kept going.” He did not elaborate on how Lunas Campos tried to hang himself or what happened afterward. The City of El Paso redacted parts of the call to protect medical information.

A medical examiner has determined that an Cuban migrant held in solitary confinement at an immigration detention facility in Texas died as a result of homicide. Geraldo Lunas Campos died Jan. 3 following an altercation with guards. ICE claims the 55-year-old father of four was attempting suicide and staff tried to save him. But a witness told The Associated Press last week that Lunas Campos was handcuffed as at least five guards held him down and at least one put an arm around his neck and squeezed until he was unconscious. The autopsy report released Wednesday by the El Paso County Medical Examiner’s Office determined the cause of death was asphyxia due to neck and torso compression.