A French Man Has Died While at a Hospital in ICE Custody

By Hamed Aleaziz, BuzzFeed News

31 December 19

This is the fourth person to die in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody in the current fiscal year, which began in October.

40-year-old French man died in US Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody at a New Mexico hospital on Sunday — the fourth person to do so since October, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. The man had been in ICE custody since Nov. 12.

He was jailed at the Otero County Processing Center until Dec. 11, when he was taken to the Torrance County Detention Facility. The next day, staff at the Torrance County facility sent him to the hospital for treatment. He died at the hospital on Dec. 29, according to the person with knowledge of the matter.

The man is the fourth person to die in ICE custody in the 2020 fiscal year, which began in October. Eight people died in ICE custody in the 2019 fiscal year.

ICE has expanded the number of people it detains to record levels under President Donald Trump. The peak came this summer, when around 55,000 immigrants were in custody in local jails and private prisons across the country. As of mid-December, the agency was detaining nearly 42,000 immigrants in custody.

ICE officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

ICE officials have long said that it is dedicated to providing timely and comprehensive medical care to immigrants in its custody, noting that they have access to a daily sick call and 24-hour emergency care. The agency has publicized that it spends more than $269 million each year on health care services.

The medical care in ICE detention has come under scrutiny by congressional officials in recent weeks.

Earlier this month, the House Oversight and Reform Committee announced it had opened an investigation into the medical care of immigrant detainees in the wake of a BuzzFeed News investigation that revealed a series of allegations of substandard care from a whistleblower.

The congressional committee issued letters demanding a series of documents from the Department of Homeland Security and ICE officials.

BuzzFeed News first reported the memo and documented how it contained reports of detainees being given incorrect medication, suffering from delays in treating withdrawal symptoms, and one who was allowed to become so mentally unstable he lacerated his own penis and required surgery.