Inspired by Billie Holiday’s Strange Fruit, this installation for Upstate Art Weekend 2026 at Goshen Green Farm (June 25–29) responds to the growing number of deaths associated with immigration detention and federal immigration enforcement in the United States.

The work asks what becomes visible when faces and names replace numbers. It asks whether the trees that witnessed past injustices are witnessing new ones today—and how a democracy is changed when some lives become easier to overlook.

In 1939, Billie Holiday’s Strange Fruit forced Americans to confront violence that many preferred not to see. This project asks: What are we failing to see today?

The work does not suggest that historical events are identical. Rather, it invites reflection on recurring questions:

• Who is seen as fully human?

• Whose suffering is visible?

• Whose deaths are counted?

• Whose names are remembered?

• What happens when people are reduced to numbers?

• What does it mean to bear witness?

ICE Detention Deaths

According to ICE records compiled by the UCLA Law Behind Bars Data Project, 57 people died in ICE custody between January 2025 and August 23, 2026. Of those deaths, 24 occurred in 2026 through August 23. The 2025 total of 31 deaths was the highest annual number recorded since 2004.

The number is significant not only because of its size, but because each number represents a person: a name, a family, a history, and a life that cannot be reduced to a statistic.

ICE is required to publicly report deaths in its custody. Researchers at UCLA created the first comprehensive database bringing these records together, documenting nearly 300 deaths in ICE custody since the agency was established in 2003.

Recent reporting has also raised questions about medical care in detention. Internal ICE reviews examining 33 deaths between September 2019 and January 2026 found that medical care fell below accepted standards in 27 of those cases. The reports were briefly posted publicly and subsequently removed.

Because investigations and reporting continue, death totals may change.

Who Is Being Detained?

The population inside ICE detention has expanded dramatically.

According to data analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University, approximately 70.6% of people held in ICE detention had no criminal conviction as of July 11, 2026—46,436 people out of 65,765. TRAC also reports that many people in the remaining group have convictions for relatively minor offenses, including traffic violations.

This statistic does not mean that everyone without a conviction is innocent of every allegation, nor does it describe why an individual was detained. It does, however, provide context for understanding who is currently held in immigration detention.

Documented Concerns About Detention Conditions

Reports by government investigators, journalists, attorneys, medical professionals, researchers, and human-rights organizations have raised concerns about conditions in various immigration detention facilities.

Among the concerns documented in different facilities are:

• Delays or inadequate access to medical care

• Insufficient medical staffing

• Overcrowding and rapid population growth

• Use of solitary confinement

• Unsanitary conditions

• Inadequate food and basic resources

• Insufficient beds, toilets, and other facilities during population surges

• Exposure to communicable diseases

• Interruptions in medical care following transfers

• Difficulties accessing attorneys, family members, journalists, and independent observers

• Reports of excessive force and physical abuse

• Inadequate responses to medical emergencies

These concerns do not describe every detention facility or every person's experience. Conditions vary by facility and over time. They are included here because they have been documented in investigations and reporting and are part of the larger public record surrounding immigration detention.

Democracy and Civic Responsibility

The installation also asks a broader question: What happens to a democracy when the suffering of some people becomes easier to ignore?

Researchers who study democratic governance use a variety of indicators to examine the health of democratic institutions, including political participation, civil liberties, independent oversight, government accountability, freedom of expression, and the rule of law.

The following measures provide some current context.

Democracy Indicators

The Economist Intelligence Unit's 2025 Democracy Index classified the United States as a "flawed democracy," a category in which the country has remained since 2016. The United States ranked 34th among 167 countries and territories, down from 28th the previous year, with a score of 7.65 out of 10—the country's lowest score since the index began in 2006.

Freedom House's 2026 Freedom in the World report gave the United States a score of 81 out of 100, down from 84 the previous year. Freedom House continues to classify the United States as "Free," while identifying concerns involving political polarization, discrimination, and the ability of federal institutions to carry out oversight and governance.

These measurements come from different organizations using different methodologies. They should not be understood as a single definitive measurement of democracy, but as indicators used by researchers to examine democratic institutions and rights.

What Researchers Watch

Scholars and organizations that study democratic systems commonly examine questions such as:

• Is executive power subject to meaningful oversight?

• Are courts and other independent institutions able to function independently?

• Can journalists and citizens criticize those in power without intimidation or retaliation?

• Are protest and dissent protected?

• Are due-process rights respected?

• Is government information accessible to the public?

• Are minority groups protected from discrimination and political exclusion?

• Can citizens meaningfully participate in civic and political life?

These questions are not limited to one political party or one administration. They are questions that democratic societies must continually ask of themselves.

Questions for Reflection

• Whose stories are remembered?

• Whose suffering becomes invisible?

• Who gets counted?

• Who gets named?

• What responsibilities do citizens have when confronted with injustice?

• What does it mean to bear witness?

• What happens when looking away becomes easier than looking closely?

As Billie Holiday's Strange Fruit reminds us, history is not only about the past.

It is also about what we choose to see in the present.