1. United States
2. Mich.
3. Letter

The next administration must open a criminal investigation into Stephen Miller and any DHS officials who deliberately engineered inhumane conditions in ICE detention facilities. A government contractor told NPR that Miller personally directed DHS to reject more humane facility designs, stating point-blank that he "wanted it to be cruel." That is not policy disagreement — that is an abuse of power, and it demands accountability. The human cost is not abstract. Twenty-eight people have died in ICE custody in 2026 alone. ICE reported 33 detainee deaths in 2025, the most in two decades. Detainees — including U.S. citizens and lawful immigrants — have been held in overcrowded warehouses, denied food, water, medical care, and legal counsel. If a contractor's account is accurate that this suffering was deliberately engineered from the White House, those responsible must face prosecution. No one in government gets to weaponize federal detention as a tool of cruelty and walk away clean.