Six people died under Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody in Texas over six weeks between December and January, including three at a single El Paso detention complex, according to a new report.
Advocates and former officials say the deaths coincide with rapid detention expansion and reduced oversight. Nationwide, at least 30 detainees died last year and the detained population has risen to more than 68,000.
The most scrutinized case involves 55-year-old Cuban national Geraldo Lunas Campos, who died at the Camp East Montana facility after contractors called 911 to report an apparent suicide attempt. ICE agents said he died from "medical distress," but a medical examiner ruled the death a homicide, finding he became unresponsive while being physically restrained by law enforcement. No criminal charges have been announced.
Six detainees told a federal court that Lunas Campos had asked for asthma medication for days and was threatened with solitary confinement. They said they later heard sounds of his body striking a surface and him gasping for air before silence. His children "want to establish the truth about what the guards did to their father," said their attorney Chris Benoit.
The facility, built in two months under a $1.2 billion contract with a company that had no listed detention-operations experience, holds more than 3,000 people and has recorded at least 60 violations, including understaffing. Two officials said it lacked a policy governing use of force and had provided contractors about 40 hours of training, compared with weeks for ICE agents.
Representative Veronica Escobar, who has visited the site repeatedly, said large detention complexes run by private companies risk public health and safety and warned of corporations "prioritizing profits, not people." A DHS spokesperson said claims of inhumane conditions are "categorically false" and that detainees receive proper care.
Another man, Victor Manuel Diaz, died 11 days after Lunas Campos at the same facility; his death is under investigation. ICE said it was a presumed suicide. Autopsies in several Texas cases remain unreleased.
Former ICE official Claire Trickler-McNulty said expanding detention while weakening standards "appears destined to lead to more deaths." Scott Shuchart, a former ICE policy chief, said deaths tied to staff violence are "preventable, and the result of training and supervision failures."
Texas holds more than 18,700 ICE detainees, the highest share nationwide. Federal officials are seeking additional sites capable of holding tens of thousands more people as enforcement expands.
Originally published on Latin Times
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