Geneva, Switzerland - The United Nations rights chief on Monday demanded accountability for swelling numbers of deaths in US immigration custody, and urged Washington to halt deportations to dangerous countries.
Speaking before the UN Human Rights Council, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk highlighted that "four more people have died in US immigration custody since my last update to this council" in June.
That meant there had been "a total of 23 deaths in 2026 alone," he said, insisting that "there needs to be accountability for these deaths".
President Donald Trump has made combating illegal immigration a top priority of his second term, with authorities rounding up thousands of people and expanding detention centers.
A joint report by Human Rights Watch and Physicians for Human Rights in June said the rate of people dying in ICE custody has reached its highest level in over a decade amid Trump's crackdown.
The UN rights chief on Monday also called out a range of other US immigration enforcement practices, including forcing migrant returns to dangerous places and to countries they had no connection to.
"I urge the United States to halt the return of people to places where they could suffer irreparable harm, including Haiti, and to ensure due process for all removals to third countries," he told the council.
The UN rights chief also voiced alarm at ICE's reported plans to "equip immigration agents with electric shock gloves," warning this would "increase the violence associated with their operations".
The plan to purchase the shock gloves, which was first reported by The Associated Press, calls for the Department of Homeland Security to spend $10 to $20 million on what are described as "distraction and deescalation" devices.