U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has confirmed that at least 17 people died while in federal immigration custody from January 2026 through early April 2026. The agency provided a case-by-case accounting of those deaths, which included incidents described as medical emergencies, presumed suicides, and several matters still under investigation. The reported total follows a tally of 31 deaths in 2025, which ICE described as a two-decade high.
The agencys release lists the names, detention sites, nationalities, ages where available, and the circumstances ICE says surrounded each death. Below is the account provided by ICE, presented in the order and with the details the agency supplied.
Aled Damien Carbonell-Betancourt
Died: April 12 at a federal detention center in Miami
Nationality: Cuban
Age: 27
ICE said a federal officer discovered Carbonell-Betancourt in what the agency described as an apparent suicide attempt at the Miami detention center. Staff initiated cardiopulmonary resuscitation and City of Miami Fire Rescue personnel continued life-saving efforts after arriving at the facility. Miami Fire Rescue pronounced Carbonell-Betancourt dead about an hour after he was found, ICE said.
Alejandro Cabrera Clemente
Died: April 11 at the Winn Correctional Center in Winnfield, Louisiana
Nationality: Mexican
Age: 49
Cabrera was found unresponsive at the Winn Correctional Center, according to ICE. Staff attempted resuscitation and he was taken to a local hospital, where he was later declared dead, ICE said.
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 declared dead at the scene. The agency 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
Ramos was discovered unconscious and unresponsive in his bunk, ICE said. On-site medical staff were called and he was transferred to an area hospital where he was declared dead, according to the agency.
Royer Perez Jimenez
Died: March 16 at the Glades County Detention Center in Moore Haven, Florida
Nationality: Mexican
Age: 19
ICE said Perez Jimenezs death was a presumed suicide. He was found unresponsive in the early hours at the detention center and staff attempted resuscitation for nearly 10 minutes without success, the agency said. The official cause of death remained under investigation, according to ICE.
Mohammad Nazeer Paktiawal
Died: March 14 at Parkland Hospital in Dallas, Texas
Nationality: Afghan
Age: 41
ICE said Paktiawal, an Afghan who had previously worked with the U.S. military in Afghanistan and later sought asylum in the United States, died less than 24 hours after being detained in Texas, as reported by a U.S. veteran-led advocacy group. ICE described a medical response after staff observed that his tongue had become swollen while he was eating breakfast. Multiple resuscitation attempts followed, and the agency said he was declared dead after those efforts.
Emanuel Cleeford Damas
Died: March 2 at a hospital in Scottsdale, Arizona
Nationality: Haitian
ICE said Damas was taken into custody after an assault and battery arrest in September 2025 and was transferred to the Florence Detention Center in Arizona. ICE reported that he experienced shortness of breath on February 19 and was sent to a local hospital, later transferred to a Phoenix hospital where he was placed in an intensive care unit and intubated on a ventilator. He died on March 2 and ICE said the cause was unknown. In an interview with another news organization, Damass brother said the death was due to an untreated toothache and related infection. The Department of Homeland Security, when asked for comment, referred to ICEs public statement, which did not mention dental issues.
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 noted he had several chronic health conditions but remained detained. He was transferred in October 2025 to the Louisiana ICE Processing Center. On February 20, 2026, ICE health staff evaluated him and he was transferred to a hospital for long-term care. ICE reported that he went into cardiac arrest on March 1, was moved to Merit Health Hospital in Natchez, Mississippi, and was pronounced dead there.
Alberto Gutierrez Reyes
Died: February 27 at a medical center in Victorville, California
Nationality: Mexican
Age: 48
ICE said Gutierrez was arrested by U.S. Border Patrol agents in Los Angeles in January. He reported feeling faint on February 25 and was admitted to Victor Valley Global Medical Center for chest pain and shortness of breath. He became unresponsive and died on February 27, ICE said. Los Angeles City Council member Eunisses Hernandez said her office had been in touch with his family and that they believed he had been denied medical care while in ICE custody. In response to a request for comment, the Department of Homeland Security said comprehensive medical care is provided to everyone in ICE detention.
Jairo Garcia Hernandez
Died: February 16 at a hospital in Miami
Nationality: Guatemalan
Age: 27
ICE said it encountered Garcia near Rochester, New York, on January 21, 2025, after local police contact, and that he was immunocompromised and "already in ill health" when taken into custody. On February 16, 2026, more than a year after his detention, ICE reported that 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 entered the United States as a refugee in 1983 but had received a deportation order following several convictions. The agency reported he was detained after presenting himself at an ICE office in Boston on December 30, 2025, and was later transferred to the Indiana detention center. Staff found Sim unresponsive in his cell on February 16, and he was pronounced dead by facility staff and emergency personnel. ICE said the incident is under investigation.
Victor Manuel Diaz
Died: January 14 at Camp East Montana in El Paso, Texas
Nationality: Nicaraguan
Age: 36
Authorities at Camp East Montana, a detention center located on the grounds of Fort Bliss in El Paso, found Diaz unconscious and unresponsive in his room on January 14, ICE said. He was pronounced dead shortly thereafter. ICE said the incident was under investigation but described the death as a "presumed suicide."
Heber Sanchaz Domnguez
Died: January 14 at the Robert A. Deyton Detention Center in Lovejoy, Georgia
Nationality: Mexican
Age: 34
ICE said Domnguez was detained after an arrest in Georgia for driving without a license. Staff found him "hanging by the neck and unresponsive in his sleeping quarters," the agency said. He was later pronounced dead at a local hospital and the incident is under investigation, according to ICE.
Parady La
Died: January 9 at a hospital in Philadelphia
Nationality: Cambodian
Age: 46
ICE reported that La was detained 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 subsequently declared dead 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 at some point transferred to the Imperial Regional Detention Facility in Calexico, California. On January 4 he complained of chest pain and was transferred to a hospital; ICE said 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 detained at the Joe Corley Processing Center in Conroe, Texas. The agency said he was transferred to HCA Houston Healthcare in Conroe on December 23, 2025, due to an exacerbation of congestive heart failure. After what ICE described as multiple life-threatening medical emergencies, he was pronounced dead on January 5.
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 at Camp East Montana. The agency initially described the incident as "medical distress" and said it was investigating. Subsequent reporting indicated the local coroner would likely rule the death a homicide and included an account from a detainee who said he saw guards choking Lunas when the detainee refused to enter solitary confinement. After that reporting, the Department of Homeland Security issued a statement that said Lunas attempted to take his own life while detained at Camp East Montana, that security staff immediately intervened to save his life, and that Lunas "violently resisted" staff, according to the department.
The ICE notice catalogs a range of circumstances: sudden medical collapses, ongoing medical conditions, apparent suicides, and incidents where causes remain under investigation. The agencys summaries include references to hospital transfers, resuscitation attempts by facility staff and local emergency responders, and evaluations by ICE health staff. In some cases, relatives or local officials have raised questions about the care provided while detainees were in custody; ICE and the Department of Homeland Security have responded publicly in the instances described above.
ICE did not provide a single, consolidated explanation for the cluster of deaths early in 2026, beyond noting the individual circumstances of each case and, in some instances, that the cause remained under investigation.
Questions about medical treatment in detention facilities and discrepancies between family accounts and official statements are present in several of the cases outlined by ICE. For example, a family member of Emanuel Damas told another news organization that his death stemmed from an untreated dental infection, while ICEs public statement did not reference dental issues. Separately, Los Angeles City Council member Eunisses Hernandez told ICE officials she and her office had been in touch with the family of Alberto Gutierrez Reyes and that they believed he had been denied medical care; the Department of Homeland Security responded that comprehensive medical care is provided to everyone in ICE detention.
ICE said several deaths remain under investigation, and the Department of Homeland Security has issued statements reiterating the availability of medical care in detention. The agency-provided list offers a detailed accounting of the individuals and the immediate circumstances described by ICE but does not resolve outstanding questions raised by relatives or local officials in a number of the cases.
What the agency reported and what remains unresolved
ICEs disclosures provide the names, locations, nationalities, and circumstances as the agency recorded them, including multiple instances where the official cause of death is still subject to investigation. Where ICE describes deaths as "presumed suicide" or notes resuscitation efforts and hospital transfers, those characterizations are from the agencys case summaries. In several cases family members or local officials have made differing claims about the care provided or the proximate cause of death; ICE and the Department of Homeland Security have issued statements in response, but the agencys summaries leave open the status of formal determinations in those cases.
The list highlights repeated references to resuscitative efforts by detention staff and emergency responders, transfers to area hospitals, chronic health conditions cited by ICE in some cases, and instances of detainees being found unresponsive in cells or bunks. ICE said that where applicable, incidents were being investigated and that medical staff had evaluated and, when necessary, transferred detainees to outside hospitals.
Bottom line
ICE reported 17 deaths in its custody from January through early April 2026 and supplied a facility-level account for each individual. The agencys statements contain varying levels of detail and, in a number of cases, note ongoing investigations or uncertainty about causes of death. Family members and local officials have raised concerns in some instances about medical care while detained; the Department of Homeland Security and ICE have responded that comprehensive medical care is provided in detention. The agencys report does not resolve outstanding questions and indicates that multiple incidents remain under investigation.