1. ICE has STOPPED PAYING for medical treatment for its 73,000 detainees ICE has not paid its bills to 3rd party…

10 tweets1 min read♥ 17Koriginal

Summary

ICE has stopped paying third-party medical providers for detainee care since October 2025 and won't resume payments until at least April 2026, leaving 73,000 detainees without access to critical medical treatment. The payment halt followed political pressure from GOP officials who opposed the VA's role in processing these reimbursement claims.

Summarized by ThreadOut AI from the full thread. May miss nuance — read the thread below.

#1
1. ICE has STOPPED PAYING for medical treatment for its 73,000 detainees ICE has not paid its bills to 3rd party providers since OCTOBER and the situation will likely persist for MONTHS, a Popular Information investigation reveals Meanwhile, critically ill ICE detainees are not receiving care 🧵
#2
2. ICE has not paid any third-party providers for medical care for detainees since October 3, 2025. Last week, ICE posted a notice on an obscure government website announcing it will not begin processing such claims until at least April 30, 2026. popular.info/p/ice-has-stop…
#3
3. ICE’s failure to pay its bills for months has caused some medical providers to deny services to ICE detainees, an administration source told Popular Information. In other cases, detainees have allegedly been denied essential medical care by ICE.
#4
4. Pausing here to say that if you are interested in UPDATES on this story and more accountability journalism, subscribe to Popular Information. No paywalls. No corporate overlords. And no BS. popular.info/subscribe
#5
5. In lawsuits, numerous ICE detainees with severe illnesses allege that they cannot obtain treatment. Viera Reyes, an ICE detainee, has symptoms and test results that suggest he has prostate cancer. Despite often being in excruciating pain, Reyes cannot obtain a biopsy or see a urologist.
#6
6. Starting in 2002, the VA played a small but critical role in providing medical care to ICE detainees. When an ICE detainee needed medication or treatment that the ICE facility could not directly provide, the VA processed reimbursement claims from pharmacies and 3rd-party medical providers
#7
7. Beginning in 2023, however, the VA’s role in administering these claims from ICE was subject to criticism by GOP officials and right-wing media outlets. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), who introduced legislation to end the practice, falsely claimed Biden was “robbing veterans to pay off illegals
#8
8. According to government documents, the VA “abruptly and instantly terminated” its agreement with ICE on October 3. That cancellation, according to the documents, left ICE with “no mechanism to provide prescribed medication” and unable to “pay for medically necessary off-site care.”
#9
9. The situation was described by ICE as an “absolute emergency” that needed to be resolved “immediately” to “prevent any further medical complications or loss of life.” More than 3 months later, the situation is not resolved. And will not be for at least several more months.
#10
10. More details, including exclusive data on the gap in medical care at ICE detention centers in today's Popular Information. popular.info/p/ice-has-stop…