The Department of Homeland Security is pushing back hard against a New York Times report detailing alleged abuse inside Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facilities.
DHS issued a sharp rebuttal on Sunday, posting on social platform X that the Times story amounted to misinformation designed to undermine the agency’s operations.
“Another day and another hoax about ICE detention from the @nytimes,” DHS wrote on X, adding, “The media is clearly desperate for these false allegations to be true.”
The Times report centered on 10 deportees who said they experienced or witnessed abusive and violent treatment carried out by ICE officers at detention facilities.
Among those who spoke to the Times was Leonardo Sánchez, a Cuban migrant, who said ICE officers forced him and three other deportees onto the tarmac in the Liberian capital of Monrovia after they refused to disembark.
Other deportees described being denied medical care, including pregnant women, and said detainees were housed in facilities where up to 50 people shared a single toilet.
The Trump administration has deported migrants to third countries including Liberia, even in cases where those migrants have no established ties to the African nation.
The administration has reportedly negotiated deportation agreements with at least 35 countries as part of its broader immigration enforcement strategy.
DHS flatly denied the accounts published by the Times, stating, “NO ONE is being tortured, denied medical care, or beaten in ICE detention facilities.”
The department went further, characterizing the Times report as “GARBAGE” and arguing that such stories are fueling what it describes as a surge in assaults against ICE officers across the country.
DHS officials said in January that death threats against its law enforcement officers were up 8,000 percent, with assaults rising by more than 1,300 percent compared to previous figures.
The confrontation between DHS and the Times underscores the deepening tension between the Trump administration and major news outlets over immigration enforcement coverage and the conditions inside detention centers.
