At least 32 immigrants died in ICE custody last year, the highest toll in more than 20 years. A new autopsy ruling a Cuban detainee’s death a homicide is intensifying calls for accountability.
Last year set a record for immigrant deaths in ICE detention centers. During 2025, at least 32 immigrants died while in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
This figure made 2025 the deadliest year in immigration detention centers in more than two decades, reaching levels not seen since 2004. This month, as 2026 begins, figures are already being released that are horrifying. Nearly ten immigrants have already died.
The latest case is that of a Cuban man at the center known as Camp East Montana, where he was murdered, according to the autopsy released yesterday. ICE authorities had claimed suicide despite eyewitness testimony to the contrary.
This is a clear example of the violence generated by federal agents and endorsed by the government, they have total immunity no matter how terrifying their actions are.
A Cuban immigrant’s death in an El Paso detention center this month was ruled a homicide, according to an autopsy report released Wednesday by the county medical examiner’s office.
The detainee, Geraldo Lunas Campos, 55, became unresponsive while he was physically restrained by law enforcement on Jan. 3 at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility called Camp East Montana, the report said. Emergency medical workers tried to resuscitate him, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.
The autopsy listed the cause of death as “asphyxia due to neck and torso compression.” The report also described injuries Mr. Lunas Campos had sustained to his head and neck, including burst blood vessels in the front and side of the neck, as well as on his eyelids.
The determination by the medical examiner’s office does not necessarily indicate criminal culpability. It is a classification of how a person died, not a legal determination of guilt.
Mr. Lunas Campos’s death has brought renewed scrutiny to the detention center this month after The Washington Post reported the episode last week. His family has asserted that he was killed by the facility’s guards, citing a witness who said he saw guards choking Mr. Lunas Campos to death. The family is preparing a wrongful-death lawsuit, according to their lawyer, Will Horowitz.
“He was being abused and beaten and choked to death,” Jeanette Pagan Lopez, the mother of two of Mr. Lunas Campos’s children, told The New York Times last week. On Wednesday, Ms. Pagan Lopez said she had not yet seen the autopsy report.
Federal officials have offered a different account of how Mr. Lunas Campos died. In a Jan. 9 news release, they said he died on Jan. 3 after experiencing medical distress, but after the Washington Post article published, they described his death as a suicide.
In an emailed statement on Wednesday, a Department of Homeland Security official again said that Mr. Lunas Campos had tried to take his own life, saying he had “violently resisted the security staff” who tried to save him and that emergency workers had made attempts to resuscitate him.
The official did not respond to questions about the autopsy report.
Along with the autopsy, the El Paso County Office of the Medical Examiner released a toxicology report, which said Mr. Lunas Campos had a history of bipolar disorder and anxiety. The report identified the presence of tracedone and hydroxyzine, two prescription medications that can be used to treat depression and anxiety.
