U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has confirmed that at least 13 individuals detained in its facilities died between the start of January 2026 and early March 2026, the agency said in a public release. Those fatalities follow 31 deaths in ICE custody during the previous year, a figure the agency described as the highest in two decades.
Case summaries
Royer Perez Jimenez - Died: March 16 at the Glades County Detention Center in Moore Haven, Florida. Nationality: Mexican. Age: 19.
ICE reported that Perez Jimenez's death was presumed to be a suicide and that the official cause of death remains under investigation. He was found unresponsive in the early hours of the morning. Detention center staff attempted resuscitation for nearly 10 minutes without success, according to the agency.
Mohommad Nazeer Paktyawal - Died: March 14 at Parkland Hospital in Dallas, Texas. Nationality: Afghan. Age: 41.
Paktyawal, identified as an Afghan immigrant who had previously worked with U.S. military personnel in Afghanistan and later sought asylum in the United States, died less than 24 hours after being detained in Texas, a U.S. veteran-led advocacy organization said. ICE's account states he was eating breakfast when medical staff observed that his tongue had become swollen, prompting an emergency medical response. After multiple attempts to resuscitate him, he was declared dead, the agency said.
Emanuel Cleeford Damas - Died: March 2 at a hospital in Scottsdale, Arizona. Nationality: Haitian.
ICE said Damas was taken into custody following an arrest on assault and battery charges in September 2025 in Boston and was transferred to the Florence Detention Center in Florence, Arizona. He reported shortness of breath on February 19 and was sent to a local hospital before being moved to a Phoenix hospital and placed in an intensive care unit. He was intubated the following day and died on March 2. ICE said the cause of death was unknown. In an interview, his brother said he believed the death resulted from an untreated toothache and an associated infection. The Department of Homeland Security, when asked for comment, referred to ICE's public statement, which did not reference any dental issue.
Pejman Karshenas Najafabadi - Died: March 1 at a hospital in Natchez, Mississippi. Nationality: Iranian. Age: 59.
ICE said it took Najafabadi into custody in April 2025 after a conviction for fentanyl possession. The agency noted he had several chronic health conditions but remained in detention. He was transferred in October 2025 to the Louisiana ICE Processing Center in Angola, a facility ICE said was opened under the previous administration. On February 20, 2026, ICE health staff evaluated him again and arranged a transfer to a hospital for long-term care. Najafabadi went into cardiac arrest on March 1 and was taken to Merit Health Hospital in Natchez, Mississippi, where he was pronounced dead.
Alberto Gutierrez Reyes - Died: February 27 at a medical center in Victorville, California. Nationality: Mexican. Age: 48.
ICE reported that Gutierrez Reyes 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 asserted that he had been denied medical care while in ICE custody. The Department of Homeland Security responded to requests for comment by stating that 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 Garcia Hernandez was taken into custody after he was encountered by local police near Rochester, New York, on January 21, 2025. The agency described him as immunocompromised and "already in ill health" when detained. More than a year after his initial encounter with authorities, on February 16, 2026, he unexpectedly collapsed and died, according to ICE.
Lorth Sim - Died: February 16 at the Miami Correctional Facility in Miami County, Indiana. Nationality: Cambodian. Age: 59.
Sim, who entered the United States as a refugee in 1983, had been ordered deported following several criminal convictions, ICE said. He reported to an ICE office in Boston on December 30, 2025, and was subsequently transferred to the Indiana detention center. ICE staff found him unresponsive in his cell on February 16; he was pronounced dead by staff and emergency personnel. The agency said the incident is under investigation.
Victor Manuel Diaz - Died: January 14 at Camp East Montana in El Paso, Texas. Nationality: Nicaraguan. Age: 36.
Staff at the detention center, a site located on the grounds of Fort Bliss, found Diaz unconscious and unresponsive in his room on January 14. He was pronounced dead shortly thereafter. ICE said the incident is under investigation and described the death as a "presumed suicide."
Heber Sanchaz Domínguez - Died: January 14 at the Robert A. Deyton Detention Center in Lovejoy, Georgia. Nationality: Mexican. Age: 34.
ICE said Sanchaz Domínguez was detained after being arrested in Georgia for driving without a license. He was found "hanging by the neck and unresponsive in his sleeping quarters" and was later pronounced dead at a nearby hospital. The agency stated that the incident is under investigation.
Parady La - Died: January 9 at a hospital in Philadelphia. Nationality: Cambodian. Age: 46.
ICE said La was detained at the Federal Detention Center in Philadelphia after an arrest on January 6 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 he was diagnosed with brain and organ failure and declared deceased on January 9.
Luis Beltran Yanez-Cruz - Died: January 6 at a hospital in Indio, California. Nationality: Honduran. Age: 68.
ICE said Beltran Yanez-Cruz was arrested by federal immigration officers in Newark, New Jersey, in November and was later moved to the Imperial Regional Detention Facility in Calexico, California. On January 4 he complained of chest pain and was transferred to a hospital, where he died two days later.
Luis Gustavo Nunez Caceres - Died: January 5 at a Houston-area hospital. Nationality: Honduran. Age: 42.
Nunez Caceres was arrested during an immigration operation in Houston on November 17, 2025, and was taken to the Joe Corley Processing Center in Conroe, Texas, ICE said. He was transferred to HCA Houston Healthcare in Conroe on December 23, 2025, because of 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 Campos died on January 3 at Camp East Montana, a detention site opened on the grounds of Fort Bliss. The agency initially reported that he experienced "medical distress" and that it was investigating the incident. A later report indicated that the local coroner would likely rule the death a homicide and included an account from a detainee who said he witnessed guards choking Lunas after Lunas refused to enter solitary confinement. Following that report, the Department of Homeland Security issued a new statement saying Lunas attempted to take his own life while detained, and that security staff "immediately intervened to save his life," adding that Lunas "violently resisted" their efforts.
Investigations and differing accounts
ICE's public summaries note that multiple incidents remain under investigation. Several of the cases include divergent descriptions of the circumstances surrounding each death. In at least one instance a family member described a possible medical cause not mentioned by ICE's public statement. In another, a later report raised the possibility of homicide before the Department of Homeland Security issued a statement attributing the event to an apparent suicide attempt and describing intervention by staff.
ICE and the Department of Homeland Security have emphasized that medical care is provided in detention facilities, while other officials and family members have raised questions about the nature and timeliness of care in specific cases. The agency's accounts include instances where detainees were transferred to outside hospitals and where medical staff attempted resuscitation at detention facilities.
What ICE has said about care and oversight
In its public descriptions of these deaths, ICE has provided limited case-by-case timelines and noted when detainees were transferred for outside medical care. The Department of Homeland Security has responded to requests for comment by asserting that comprehensive medical care is made available to people in ICE detention. At the same time, the agency said several of the incidents are the subject of ongoing inquiries.
Summary observation
The 13 deaths recorded by ICE through early March add to last year's 31 fatalities and are being reviewed across multiple facilities. The cases include a mix of medical emergencies, alleged suicides, and incidents that are being examined further by investigators. Public accounts of the circumstances include both agency statements and statements from family members, local officials, and other reporting, and in several cases the official cause of death has not been released pending investigation.