ICE Reveals Cause of Death for Immigrant Found Dead at Texas Detention Facility
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story includes discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know needs help, the national suicide and crisis lifeline in the U.S. is available by calling or texting 988.
EL PASO, TEXAS (AP) — An immigrant from Nicaragua was found dead at a Texas immigration detention facility last week, federal officials said.
Victor Manuel Diaz appears to have killed himself Wednesday at the sprawling tent complex at the U.S. Army’s Fort Bill base in El Paso, Immigration and Customs Enforcement said in a statement. The federal investigation into his death continues.
It’s the same facility where ICE said another detainee died earlier this month as staff members tried to keep him from killing himself. But a fellow detainee said at least five officers were restraining the handcuffed inmate and at least one had an arm around his neck.
Diaz was swept up on Jan. 6 in the federal crackdown on immigration in Minnesota and sent to Texas, ICE said.
Diaz entered the United States in March 2024 and Border Patrol officers took him into custody. He was released on parole pending a court date and a judge ordered him to leave the U.S. in an August hearing that Diaz did not attend, ICE said.
Diaz was given a final order for removal on Jan. 12, two days before he was found unconscious in his room, authorities said.
ICE did not release any other details on Diaz’s death. The agency notifies Congress and releases a statement on its website of all in-custody deaths.
Diaz, 36, was being held at Camp Montana East where ICE said another detainee, Geraldo Lunas Campos, died as staff members tried to prevent him from killing himself.
But a preliminary investigation by the El Paso County Medical Examiner’s Office found Lunas Campos, 55, died from asphyxia from chest and neck compression and said the death would likely be classified a homicide.
A fellow detainee told the AP that Lunas Campos was handcuffed and refused to go back into his cell when at least five guards pinned him to the floor. The detainee said at least one of the guards squeezed an arm around Lunas Campos’ neck.
ICE said it is still investigating that death.
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