December Was Deadliest Month in Deadliest Year in ICE Custody Deaths

It’s official: December was the deadliest month for immigrants in ICE custody since President Donald Trump returned to the White House.

This year was already the deadliest for those in ICE custody since 2004. In December, that trend continued, with seven immigrants dying in ICE detention, including four that died within a four day span, according to death notices published by ICE. Three of the deceased were held at facilities in Texas before they died. Four of the deceased died within four days of each other.

Francisco Gaspar-Andres, a 48-year-old man from Guatemala died on December 3, after being held at Camp East Montana in Texas since September. In his notice, ICE noted that although his “cause of death is pending, medical staff attributed it to natural liver and kidney failure.” The new detention facility at Fort Bliss has reportedly already violated dozens of federal standards for immigrant detention since welcoming detainees in August.

Pete Sumalo Montejo, a 72-year-old Filipino man who was previously convicted of child sexual abuse, died on December 5 at the Montgomery Processing Center in Texas. ICE reported that Montejo had suffered a number of illnesses throughout his time in custody: In June he was admitted for shortness of breath and hypoxia, and between July and November he was hospitalized several times for illnesses such as anemia and septic shock resulting from pneumonia.

Shiraz Fatehali Sachwani, a 48 year-old man from Pakistan, died on December 6, after being held at Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas, since June. He was admitted to the hospital in November after experiencing low oxygen levels and tachycardia.

Jean Wilson Brutus, a 41-year-old Haitian man detained at Delaney Hall Detention Facility in Newark, New Jersey, died on December 12 from “suspected natural causes.” Immigrants held at Delaney Hall previously said that they were starved.

Fouad Saeed Abdulkadir, a 46-year-old Eritrean man, died in ICE custody December 14 at the Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Pennsylvania. Abdulkadir’s sudden death is reportedly the second to occur at that facility this year, and is currently being investigated by Pennsylvania State Police and the Clearfield County coroner.

Delvin Francisco Rodriguez, a 39-year-old man from Nicaragua was pronounced dead on December 14, just one day after he was scheduled to be deported. He was discovered unresponsive and without a pulse at the Adams County Detention Center in Colorado on December 4, removed to a medical facility, and declared dead 10 days later.

Nenko Stanev Gantchev, a 56-year-old man from Bulgaria, died in ICE custody December 15 at the North Lake Processing Center in Michigan. While ICE wrote that they suspected he died of natural causes, his cause of death is under investigation.

ICE’s webpage dedicated to Detainee Death Reporting lists only 15 deaths in 2025—not including any from this month. However, at least 20 immigrants had already died in ICE custody as of October, according to NPR.

ICE is required to publish information about an in-custody death within 30 days.

President Trump plans on ringing in the New Year by garnishing the wages of over 5 million student debtors currently in default on their loans, The Washington Post first reported.

Starting January 7, the Department of Education plans to withhold a portion of the wages of around 1,000 defaulted borrowers. The number will gradually increase within the following months.

By law, the Education Department must inform those in default at least 30 days before garnishing their wages. The department can take up to 15 percent of a student loan holder’s after-tax income to pay off their debts from college—yet another example of President Trump working against the issue of affordability he centered so much of his campaign around. Over 42 million people have student loans, and the number of people defaulting on them is expected to double very soon, highlighting the absurd price of college education in America, even as its value seems to be declining.

No, JD Vance will not be our first “Chad” president.

The vice president shared a series of photographs to X Monday showing himself valiantly running physical training drills with Navy Seals at Base Coronado, in California. Vance was photographed running down the beach, carrying a heavy log, climbing a large cargo net, and even rowing. Another set of photographs showed him speaking with officers, and posing for a photograph in front of a large American flag.

“They took it easy on me and I still feel like I got hit by a freight train,” Vance wrote on X, recapping his 90-minute PT session. “So grateful to all of our warriors who keep us safe and keep the highest standards anywhere in the world!” Vance previously served a four-year stint in the public affairs section in the 2nd Marine Aircraft.

Obviously, Vance’s critics were not impressed.

“Cool, man—but when you’re done cosplaying, can you and your boss do something about housing and grocery prices? Thanks,” Mike Nellis, a Democratic strategist, wrote on X.

“It’s the middle of the workday. While Americans are grinding to make Christmas work, the vice president is burning taxpayer dollars pretending to be a Navy SEAL,” Christopher Hale, a former Democratic congressional candidate, wrote on X.

Even Vance couldn’t help but make fun of himself. He shared an edited version of the photograph that included his bloated, meme-ified face.

“Fixed it,” he wrote on X.

It’s not entirely clear what prompted Vance’s recent cosplaying adventure. Perhaps it has something to do with his recent presidential endorsement from Erika Kirk, a closely-held friend of the vice president. Or maybe it has something to do with his slipping poll numbers.

A recent survey by AtlasIntel found that while Vance was still the leading pick to become the Republican nominee in 2028, a majority of Republicans no longer support him. Only 46.7 percent of respondents said they would pick Vance over other figures, down from 54.6 percent in a September poll.

Meanwhile, a straw poll taken by Fox News at Turning Point USA’s Amerifest this past weekend found that 84.2 percent of respondents said they would like to see Vance as the Republican nominee in 2028, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis trailing far behind him. In order to claim the full support of MAGA, it seems Vance may have decided it’s time to prove himself more than a sniveling debate kid.

The Justice Department is now downplaying the Epstein files they took so long to release by claiming that they’re full of “untrue and sensationalist claims made against President Trump.” 

“The Department of Justice has officially released nearly 30,000 more pages of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein,” the DOJ wrote Tuesday on X. “Some of these documents contain untrue and sensationalist claims made against President Trump that were submitted to the FBI right before the 2020 election. To be clear: the claims are unfounded and false, and if they had a shred of credibility, they certainly would have been weaponized against President Trump already.”

“Nevertheless, out of our commitment to the law and transparency, the DOJ is releasing these documents with the legally required protections for Epstein’s victims.”

While there certainly is some uncorroborated information in the files, there is also a wealth of new, possibly incriminating evidence about President Trump. One file contains an email from an assistant U.S. attorney from January 2020 that reads, “For your situational awareness, wanted to let you know that the flight records we received yesterday reflect that Donald Trump traveled on Epstein’s private jet many more times than has previously been reported.”  

Another file contained a 2019 letter from Epstein addressed to “L.N.” or Larry Nassar, the former U.S. gymnastics team doctor convicted of sexually abusing scores of women and girls.

“As you know by now, I have taken the ‘short route’ home,” Epstein wrote, appearing to reference his later death by suicide. “Good luck! We shared one thing… our love and caring for young ladies and the hope they’d reach their full potential. Our president also shares our love of young, nubile girls. When a young beauty walked by he loved to ‘grab snatch,’ whereas we ended up snatching grub in the mess halls of the system. Life is unfair,” he said, signing off “J. Epstein.” 

Even as more information rolls in, it should come as no surprise that the Justice Department—which has been completely subservient to the president—continues to provide cover for him even as they release the heavily redacted files. 

“‘We’re releasing the documents, but please know in advance they’re fake, irrelevant, already debunked, totally harmless, and also important enough to issue a press statement about,’” one conservative X user posted. “If the DOJ tells you what to think before you read the documents, you already know they’re lying.” 

A bunch of masked male Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in tactical gear broke into the women’s bathroom of Cato nutrition bar factory in New York, even forcing a stall open while a woman in there used the toilet. They can be heard telling her to pull her pants up.

The raid occurred in September, but the troubling footage was just recently revealed in court filings.

The officers justified their invasive actions by telling Cato’s owners that they had a warrant for a violent felon. In reality, the warrant they did have only allowed them to go into the building and seize documents, not kidnap a woman while she was on the toilet.

ICE eventually detained and questioned 57 people, even those who asked for a lawyer. At least 21 were deported and separated from their families.

“I guess we found the men going into women’s bathrooms,” one X user mused.

The government found a photograph of Donald Trump and Ghislaine Maxwell on Steve Bannon’s phone. So, why did they redact it?

Buried in the latest trove of documents released by the Department of Justice Monday, one email appeared to be from a federal investigator who said they’d discovered something while digging through Bannon’s iPhone 7.

“As I was going through the images from that phone, I found an image of Trump and Ghislaine Maxwell on Bannon’s phone,” the email stated, passing it forward “in case it was of any importance” to someone handling “both cases.”

“Thanks very much for flagging—no need to do anything on this one,” the person responds.

Despite the fact that the Epstein Files Transparency Act only required the Trump administration to redact identifiable information of survivors—something that the government failed to do—the photograph of Trump and Maxwell was redacted in its entirety in the DOJ’s release. The sender and recipients’ names have also all been redacted.

So, what is it about this photograph in particular that warranted redaction?

Over the course of his long friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, Trump was photographed several times with Maxwell. The two attended parties and fashion events, and even traveled together.

It seems that Trump may be receiving some special treatment. In other photographs released as part of the government’s document dumps, former President Bill Clinton’s face remained visible while the faces of some other individuals were redacted. The DOJ even went so far as to release a statement to get ahead of the “untrue and sensationalist claims” about Trump contained in their own release.

The batch of files released Monday contained multiple disturbing revelations, including one email that suggested Trump flew on Epstein’s jet “many more times than previously has been reported,” and Epstein’s apparent suicide note that mentioned Trump’s love of “young, nubile girls.”

Epstein files leaked on Monday night confirmed what so many people already suspected: President Trump spent much more time with Epstein—and young women—than he’s said he has. 

An email from an assistant U.S. attorney from January 2020 reads, “For your situational awareness, wanted to let you know that the flight records we received yesterday reflect that Donald Trump traveled on Epstein’s private jet many more times than has previously been reported.” 

“He is listed as a passenger on at least eight flights between 1993 and 1996, including at least four flights on which Maxwell was present,” the attorney continued, noting that Trump brought his wife, son Eric, and daughter Tiffany at times.

On one flight, the only three listed passengers were Trump,  Epstein, and a 20-year-old whose name has been redacted, likely a victim of Epstein and Maxwell. 

This email completely undermines Trump’s various stories regarding his friendship with Epstein, from saying that he viewed Epstein as some kind of creep to be kept at arm’s length, to saying he barely knew him. Regardless of how their relationship ended, the president was flying around on a private jet with a sexual predator who abused children—which explains the lengths the administration went to keep these files from coming out even as a notable portion of their voter base recognized it as an issue. 

It will be interesting to hear Trump and his helpers explain this one. Why would Trump fly on the sex trafficker’s plane multiple times? Did he just not know then too? 

“Trump was on Epstein’s plane, with Epstein victims,” one X user wrote. “Yet another reason why he was trying to keep the Epstein files from ever seeing the light of day.”

What do Jeffrey Epstein, Larry Nassar, and Donald Trump all have in common?

Buried in the latest trove of documents released by the Justice Department Monday, a postcard addressed to “L.N.” or Larry Nassar, the former U.S. gymnastics team doctor convicted of sexually abusing scores of women and girls, mentioned Trump by name—and more.

“As you know by now, I have taken the ‘short route’ home,” Epstein wrote, appearing to reference his later death by suicide. “Good luck! We shared one thing… our love and caring for young ladies and the hope they’d reach their full potential. Our president also shares our love of young, nubile girls. When a young beauty walked by he loved to ‘grab snatch,’ whereas we ended up snatching grub in the mess halls of the system. Life is unfair,” he continued, signing off “J. Epstein.”

The government also released an image of the envelope, which was addressed from Epstein to “inmate” Nassar, and was postmarked August 13, 2019, three days after Epstein died at the Metropolitan Correction Center in New York City. The letter, marked as return to sender, was addressed to Nassar at USP Arizona, where the high-profile pedophile had been held before he was transferred in 2018.

It had previously been reported that Epstein attempted to reach out to Nassar, but that his letter had been returned. The government’s documents suggest that the letter was first discovered weeks later in September 2019, and was submitted for a handwriting analysis in July 2020. It’s not clear what the results of the writing test were.

The latest batch of documents released by the Department of Justice mention Trump’s name hundreds of times. One 2020 email sent by a federal prosecutor asserted that Trump had flown on Epstein’s private jet “many more times than previously has been reported (or that we were aware).”

The previous batch of documents published Friday were heavily criticized for being incomplete. While the government made sweeping redactions to entire pages of documents, it apparently failed to redact the names of multiple survivors.

Just days after plastering his name onto the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., President Trump will be naming a new class of battleships after himself.

Trump is planning to make the naming announcement of the Navy’s new battleships alongside Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida on Monday. An anonymous Pentagon official told The New York Times that Trump will call them “Trump-class” battleships.

The ship will be part of Trump’s vision of a new “Golden Fleet.” Each ship is expected to cost at least $5 billion, according to The Wall Street Journal.

As The New Republic’s Matt Ford wrote earlier this week—as bleak as the Gulf of America, the Trump Kennedy Center, the War Department, and others sound, Trump won’t be president forever. If he can change them just that easily, there’s no reason the next Democratic administration should hesitate to change them back.

CBS editor-in-chief Bari Weiss told 60 Minutes producers she was killing their story on the CECOT megaprison in El Salvador, where Trump deported more than 250 Venezuelan immigrants,  because it did “not present the administration’s argument.”

“What we have is Karoline Leavitt’s soundbite claiming they are evildoers in America (rapists, murderers, etc.). But isn’t there much more to ask in light of the torture that we are revealing?” Weiss wrote in a Sunday memo. “Tom Homan and Stephen Miller don’t tend to be shy. I realize we’ve emailed the DHS spox, but we need to push much harder to get these principals on the record.”

Weiss’s decision to kill the story because it didn’t have enough perspective from DHS officials—who had already declined to speak with 60 Minutes—was met with uproar when it was leaked on Monday. But she doubled down. 

“We need to be able to get the principals on the record and on camera,” she said on a Monday staffing call, insinuating that the testimonies of CECOT inmates were insufficient.

Killing a story about a brutal megaprison because the folks that are sending people to the brutal megaprison aren’t featured prominently enough has not been favorably received. 

“The Trump administration sent dozens [of] young men with no criminal record to be tortured and abused in a foreign prison,” podcaster Jon Favreau wrote. “@bariweiss can keep reporting, delaying, or kill the story altogether, but the basic facts have been well-documented in multiple court cases, including by Trump’s own DOJ and Trump-appointed judges.” 

“Bari Weiss’s main criticism is that 60 Minutes doesn’t advance the story,” writer Randye Hoder chimed. “But her solution is to ask Stephen Miller to regurgitate the same talking points this admin has given from the get-go, which we’ve heard a gazillion times)!”

The Trump administration has yet to comment. View the trailer for the scrapped segment here.