From ICE to NICE? Trump Endorses Rebranding Amid Heavy Scrutiny Over Detention Deaths

Will Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) be rebranded?

Fueling rumors regarding the same, President Donald Trump has recently endorsed a social media suggestion to rename ICE as National Immigration and Customs Enforcement (NICE).

This comes at a time the agency is facing heavy scrutiny over a record number of deaths in its detention facilities since October 2025.

On Monday, April 27, Trump shared a post made by conservative influencer Alyssa Marie on the former's Truth Social account.

Marie's post urged the president to rename ICE as NICE, reasoning that this way, "the media has to say NICE agents all day everyday."

Expressing his agreement with the same, Trump shared the post and wrote, “GREAT IDEA!!! DO IT.”

Notably, over the past few months, ICE has faced considerable backlash from the public over its questionable immigration and detention policies.

According to a report by NPR, a total of 29 people have died in ICE custody since October 2025, surpassing the previous record of 28 deaths set in 2004. The report noted that approximately "60,000 people are currently held in immigration detention."

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), however, disputed claims of a rise in detainee deaths, saying the "death rates in custody under the Trump administration are 0.009 percent of the detained population."

The agency also said that ICE provides detainees access to the “best healthcare they have received their entire lives,” and issued a statement saying, "Being in detention is a choice. We encourage all illegal aliens to take control of their departure with the CBP Home App."

According to an official ICE report, a Cuban man identified as Carbonell-Betancourt was arrested in 2025 for resisting an officer and later transferred to the agency's custody.

Agents found him unresponsive in his cell on the morning of April 12. His death was the most recent among detained immigrants in ICE facilities.

A DHS statement said that his cause of death was "presumed suicide," though the official determination remains under investigation.

The NPR report states that acting ICE Director Todd Lyons testified at a congressional hearing about the record number of deaths in the current fiscal year, attributing the increase to the "highest amount in detention that ICE has ever had since its inception in 2003."

Lyons said that detainees receive a physical examination within 14 days of admission and are seen by a medical professional within 24 hours.

"No death is what we want. We don't want anyone to die in custody," he said, adding, "I hope that's a policy of anyone that has to be tasked with detaining someone."

Lyons added, “I hope that's a policy of anyone that has to be tasked with detaining someone.” However, when he was asked how many people were working in the Office of Detention Oversight, he failed to provide an exact number.