Washington Post Gift Article: The agency is facing pressure to improve medical care in its facilities after reporting the deaths of 18 detainees in the first five months of this year. As the number of immigrants dying in government custody rises, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is shrinking the scope of which deaths it will be required to report. In a memo sent to agency employees Thursday and reviewed by The Washington Post, acting director David Venturella said ICE is eliminating its requirement to report deaths that occur within 30 days of people being released from its custody. “ICE is returning to the standard practice of reporting deaths that occur while an individual is in agency custody,” Venturella wrote in the memo…” The 30-day requirement was adopted in 2021, when President Joe Biden’s administration sought to hold ICE accountable for detainees released from its custody with serious medical conditions, said Deborah Fleischaker, who was acting chief of staff at the time. Earlier that year, a man who had contracted the coronavirus while detained at the Adelanto detention center in California died three days after ICE released him. “The policy changed to make clear that ICE should not release people simply to avoid deaths in custody,” Fleischaker said. In an email, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security confirmed the change in policy, saying it is “common sense” that ICE should not be responsible for monitoring or reviews “when an individual passes away weeks after leaving their custody.”