A detainee in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) died while held at an Indiana prison, the agency said, and officials have opened an investigation into the cause of death.
ICE identified the man as 59-year-old Lorth Sim, a Cambodian national being held at the Miami Correctional Facility. Agency staff discovered Sim unresponsive in his cell, ICE said in a statement issued on Wednesday. The death, which occurred on Monday, is being reviewed by investigators.
ICE noted that Sim came to the United States as a refugee in 1983 and subsequently became a lawful permanent resident in 1986, according to the agency's statement. He was arrested in December in Boston and detained by ICE. ICE records show that an immigration judge had ordered Sim's removal to Cambodia in 2006.
The agency also said Sim had prior arrests for disorderly conduct, indecent exposure and larceny; he received a suspended sentence and a period of probation in connection with those matters.
The death is the latest in a series of fatalities in federal immigration detention this year. ICE said the case represents at least the seventh death in 2026 in federal immigration custody. Advocacy groups and some elected officials have voiced intensified criticism of detention conditions as the number of people held by ICE has grown.
ICE reported that the agency had roughly 68,000 people in its custody as of early February, a marked increase from about 40,000 at the time the current administration took office. The agency and the federal government have defended detention practices, saying detainees receive appropriate medical care and denying allegations that detainees are treated inhumanely.
Concerns about medical care and treatment in detention have surfaced in other recent cases. Earlier this month, ICE said a 33-year-old Palestinian woman, Leqaa Kordia, who lost numerous relatives in Gaza, was hospitalized for three days after a seizure while in immigration custody. Kordia, who is Muslim and whose mother is a U.S. citizen, has said she was chained during that hospitalization.
In a separate and high-profile case this year, a Cuban immigrant, Geraldo Lunas Campos, died in a Texas detention facility on January 3. The El Paso County medical examiner classified that death as a homicide, citing asphyxia from neck and torso compression. Media reporting attributed a witness account that guards had choked Lunas. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security provided shifting statements about the incident and did not reference choking or homicide in its public comments.
Officials at ICE say they are obligated to investigate deaths in custody and to provide medical care to detainees. The agency's statement on Sim's death confirmed investigators are examining the circumstances that led to his death, but it did not provide further detail about the ongoing inquiry.
As investigations proceed, the incident is likely to draw continued attention from civil rights advocates and lawmakers concerned about detention conditions and oversight. The factual record available about this case is limited to ICE's public statement and related details disclosed about Sim's immigration history and prior arrests.