Man's Death in ICE Custody Raises New Questions

US immigration authorities say a Cuban detainee tried to kill himself at a Texas detention camp. A staffer at the local medical examiner's office who spoke to his daughter, however, suggests the death may be ruled a homicide. In a recorded call shared with the Washington Post, an employee for the El Paso County medical examiner said a doctor's preliminary finding for 55-year-old Geraldo Lunas Campos was "asphyxia due to neck and chest compression," and that, pending toxicology results, "we're going to be listing the manner of death as homicide." The office declined to discuss the case publicly, citing privacy rules. A homicide classification in this context means death caused in part by another person's actions, not necessarily intent to kill.

Lunas Campos died on Jan. 3 at Camp East Montana, a massive tent complex in El Paso that has drawn repeated criticism over conditions and abuse. In a release, ICE initially said that staff had observed him "in distress" after he'd become "disruptive" while waiting on line for medication and was placed in "segregation." A Department of Homeland Security official later said Lunas Campos had attempted suicide, then "violently resisted" guards. Staff "immediately intervened to save his life," per a DHS statement to People, but Lunas Campos allegedly stopped breathing during the struggle. An internal ICE log notes an "immediate" use-of-force incident but provides no details.

A fellow detainee in the segregation unit told the Post he saw at least five guards restraining Lunas Campos and heard him repeatedly say in Spanish, "I can't breathe," before falling silent. The FBI has contacted Lunas Campos' family as part of an investigation, according to the mother of two of his children. Lunas Campos had a long criminal record, including a 2003 conviction for first-degree sexual abuse of a child, and had been ordered removed from the United States decades earlier but remained in the country. His death is the second at Camp East Montana and comes amid a spike in fatalities in ICE custody—at least 30 last year and four in the first nine days of 2026—intensifying scrutiny of ICE's expanding use of private contractors to operate large detention sites.