ICE Reports 16 Deaths in U.S. Custody Through Early April; Agency Lists Details on Each Case

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has reported that at least 16 immigrants died while in agency custody from January 2026 through early April 2026. The agency supplied individual case summaries for each death, describing the locations, apparent circumstances and ongoing investigative status for many of the incidents. The figure follows 31 deaths in ICE custody during 2025, which the agency characterized as a two-decade high.

The agency provided particulars for each person who died. The accounts below follow ICE's public descriptions and, where the agency noted outstanding information, those investigations are noted as ongoing by ICE.

• Alejandro Cabrera Clemente - Died April 11 at the Winn Correctional Center in Winnfield, Louisiana; nationality: Mexican; age: 49. ICE said Cabrera was found unresponsive at the detention center, and staff members attempted resuscitation. He was transported to a local hospital where additional life-saving efforts were carried out, but he was declared dead, according to ICE.
• Tuan Van Bui - Died April 1 at the Miami Correctional Facility in Bunker Hill, Indiana; nationality: Vietnamese; age: 55. ICE reported that Bui was found unresponsive and was pronounced dead at the scene. ICE said the cause of death remains under investigation.
• Jose Guadalupe Ramos - Died March 25 at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center in Los Angeles; nationality: Mexican. ICE said security staff discovered Ramos unconscious and unresponsive in his bunk. On-site medical staff were called, and he was transferred to a nearby hospital where he was declared dead, according to ICE.
• Royer Perez Jimenez - Died March 16 at the Glades County Detention Center in Moore Haven, Florida; nationality: Mexican; age: 19. ICE said his death was a presumed suicide and noted that the official cause of death remained under investigation after he was found unresponsive in the early hours. The detention center's staff attempted to resuscitate him for nearly 10 minutes but were unsuccessful, ICE said.
• Mohommad Nazeer Paktyawal - Died March 14 at Parkland Hospital in Dallas, Texas; nationality: Afghan; age: 41. ICE said Paktyawal, an Afghan immigrant who had worked with U.S. military personnel in Afghanistan and later sought asylum in the United States, died in agency custody less than 24 hours after being detained in Texas, according to a U.S. veteran-led advocacy group cited in ICE's account. ICE said medical staff observed his tongue had become swollen while he was eating breakfast, prompting a medical response; the agency further said multiple resuscitation attempts were made but he was declared dead.
• Emanuel Cleeford Damas - Died March 2 at a hospital in Scottsdale, Arizona; nationality: Haitian. ICE said it took Damas into custody after an arrest on assault and battery charges in September 2025 and that he was later transferred to the Florence Detention Center in Florence, Arizona. According to ICE, Damas reported shortness of breath on February 19 and was sent to a local hospital before being transferred to a Phoenix hospital and admitted to an intensive care unit. He was intubated on a ventilator the next day and died on March 2, with ICE saying the cause remains unknown. ICE relayed that, in an interview with the Associated Press, a brother stated the death was due to an untreated toothache and related infection; ICE said the Department of Homeland Security referred inquiries to ICE's public statement, which did not mention any dental issue.
• Pejman Karshenas Najafabadi - Died March 1 at a hospital in Natchez, Mississippi; nationality: Iranian; age: 59. ICE said it took Karshenas into custody in April 2025 after a conviction for fentanyl possession. The agency said he had several chronic health conditions but remained detained, later being transferred in October 2025 to the Louisiana ICE Processing Center. ICE recounted that on February 20, 2026, health staff evaluated him and he was moved to a hospital for long-term care. On March 1 he suffered cardiac arrest, was transferred to Merit Health Hospital in Natchez and was pronounced dead there, ICE said.
• Alberto Gutierrez Reyes - Died February 27 at a medical center in Victorville, California; nationality: Mexican; age: 48. ICE said he was arrested by U.S. Border Patrol agents in Los Angeles in January and that he reported feeling faint on February 25. He was admitted to Victor Valley Global Medical Center for chest pain and shortness of breath, ICE said, and became unresponsive and died on February 27. The article notes that Los Angeles City Council member Eunisses Hernandez said her office had been in contact with Reyes's family and alleged he had been denied medical care while in ICE custody, while the Department of Homeland Security told a separate request for comment that comprehensive medical care is provided to everyone in ICE detention, according to ICE's public reply.
• Jairo Garcia Hernandez - Died February 16 at a hospital in Miami; nationality: Guatemalan; age: 27. ICE said it took Garcia into custody after he was encountered by local police near Rochester, New York, on January 21, 2025. The agency said he was immunocompromised and "already in ill health" when detained. On February 16, 2026, more than a year after his initial custody, ICE said he collapsed unexpectedly and died.
• Lorth Sim - Died February 16 at the Miami Correctional Facility in Miami County, Indiana; nationality: Cambodian; age: 59. ICE said Sim had entered the United States as a refugee in 1983 but was later ordered deported following several convictions. He was detained after arriving at an ICE office in Boston on December 30, 2025, and subsequently transferred to the Indiana detention center. ICE said staff found Sim unresponsive in his cell on February 16 and that he was pronounced dead by staff and emergency personnel. The agency said the incident was under investigation.
• Victor Manuel Diaz - Died January 14 at Camp East Montana in El Paso, Texas; nationality: Nicaraguan; age: 36. ICE said staff at the detention center, located on the grounds of Fort Bliss, found Diaz unconscious and unresponsive in his room on January 14, and he was pronounced dead shortly thereafter. ICE said the incident was under investigation but described the death as a "presumed suicide."
• Heber Sanchaz Domednguez - Died January 14 at the Robert A. Deyton Detention Center in Lovejoy, Georgia; nationality: Mexican; age: 34. ICE said Domednguez had been detained after being arrested in Georgia for driving without a license. The agency reported he was found "hanging by the neck and unresponsive in his sleeping quarters" and was later pronounced dead at an area hospital. ICE said the incident is under investigation.
• Parady La - Died January 9 at a hospital in Philadelphia; nationality: Cambodian; age: 46. ICE said La was being held at the Federal Detention Center in Philadelphia after a January 6 arrest and was being treated for "severe drug withdrawal" when he was found unresponsive in his cell. He was transferred to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital where ICE said he was diagnosed with brain and organ failure and was declared deceased on January 9.
• Luis Beltran Yanez-Cruz - Died January 6 at a hospital in Indio, California; nationality: Honduran; age: 68. ICE said Beltran was arrested by federal immigration officers in Newark, New Jersey, in November and was later moved to the Imperial Regional Detention Facility in Calexico, California. ICE reported that on January 4 he complained of chest pain and was transferred to a hospital, where he died two days later.
• Luis Gustavo Nunez Caceres - Died January 5 at a Houston-area hospital; nationality: Honduran; age: 42. ICE said Nunez was arrested during an immigration operation in Houston on November 17, 2025, and was eventually taken to the Joe Corley Processing Center in Conroe, Texas. ICE reported he was transferred to HCA Houston Healthcare in Conroe on December 23, 2025, due to an exacerbation of congestive heart failure, and after multiple life-threatening medical emergencies he was pronounced dead on January 5, according to ICE.
• Geraldo Lunas Campos - Died January 3 at Camp East Montana detention center in El Paso, Texas; nationality: Cuban; age: 55. ICE said Lunas died on January 3 in Camp East Montana, a detention site on the grounds of Fort Bliss. ICE initially said he experienced "medical distress" and that the agency was investigating the incident. The article notes that a local coroner was later reported to be likely to rule the death a homicide, and that a detainee interviewed by a news outlet said he saw guards choking Lunas when Lunas refused to enter solitary confinement. After those reports, the Department of Homeland Security issued a new statement saying Lunas attempted to take his own life while detained at the site; DHS said security staff immediately intervened to save his life but that Lunas "violently resisted" them.

ICE's accounting lists the place, nationality, and in many instances an age and a brief narrative of circumstances for each death. Several of the cases included in the agency's reporting are recorded as under investigation, and ICE's statements frequently note that official causes of death had not yet been determined at the time of the agency's summaries.

The cases encompass a range of circumstances as presented by ICE - some detainees were found unresponsive in their cells or bunks, others collapsed or were pronounced dead after being transferred to hospitals, and several incidents were described as presumed suicides. In at least one case ICE described a detainee as "already in ill health" when taken into custody. Other summaries refer to chronic health conditions, cardiac events, respiratory issues, drug withdrawal, and medical complications such as congestive heart failure. ICE also relayed statements from local officials, advocacy groups and family members in some instances, while noting other assertions or details were not included in the agency's public statements.

Several of the entries the agency provided reference transfers to outside hospitals and multiple life-saving interventions performed by staff while detainees were transported or treated. The agency's accounts also recount instances where local or federal officials or family members offered differing perspectives about the detainees' health prior to death; in one case the Department of Homeland Security provided an updated account following reporting that raised questions about the sequence of events during a detention site incident.

ICE's tally of 16 deaths through early April 2026 follows the agency's 2025 count of 31 deaths in custody, which it described as a two-decade high. The agency's public summaries for the 16 deaths outline both immediate responses to medical emergencies and areas in which further inquiry is ongoing.

Note: This report presents ICE's summaries of each death as provided by the agency. Where ICE noted investigations or that causes were under review, those statements are reported here as ICE presented them.