‘They’re Not Breathing’: Inside the Chaos of ICE Detention Center 911 Calls
July 09, 2025 at 07:30PMSeizures. Suicide attempts. Pregnancy complications. Cardiac episodes. Medical crises are happening routinely inside ICE detention centers, which are packed with immigrants swept up by the Trump administration. Through Freedom of Information Act requests, two reporters obtained the records of hundreds of emergency calls placed from 10 ICE facilities, which are often located in rural areas gutted of health care services. Dhruv Mehrotra and Dell Cameron found that the number of 911 calls—thus the number of medical emergencies—has skyrocketed since the Trump administration began its unprecedented immigration crackdown:
One of America’s busiest detention centers sits on a plot of unincorporated land in the heart of rural Georgia. It’s isolated even by local standards.
When emergencies strike at Stewart Detention Center, responders are often dispatched from a weathered brick building in the nearby town of Lumpkin, a former agricultural community steeped in plantation-era history, economically defined by the ebb and flow of Stewart’s detained population. The detention center is a leading source of both jobs and operating revenue for the county.
Throughout 2024, Stewart logged a steady stream of medical emergencies and violent episodes, from seizures and head injuries to suicide attempts and abdominal pain. But medical emergencies at Stewart have increased in both volume and severity in the first four months of 2025 alone, compared to the same time last year. Though Stewart’s population is only roughly 10 percent larger now, serious medical emergencies—seizures, head traumas, and suspected heart issues—have more than tripled.
In March, a Stewart staff member called 911 to report that multiple women were “not breathing” after they’d been pepper sprayed. At least one serious injury reported this year was self-inflicted: an inmate “beating his head against the wall.” Jesús Molina-Veya, a Stewart detainee, is also confirmed to have died by suicide on June 7.
Stewart has reported more in-custody deaths since 2017 than any other facility nationwide.
Stewart County is part of a region hit hard by rural hospital closures, leaving residents with some of the longest emergency transport times in the state. EMS crews are being called upon to stabilize patients for longer periods, with doctors that provide advanced care occasionally taking an hour or more to reach.
from Longreads https://longreads.com/2025/07/09/theyre-not-breathing-inside-the-chaos-of-ice-detention-center-911-calls/
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