A second person has died within two weeks at an immigration detention center in Texas, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said on Monday, January 19.
According to the agency, 36-year-old Victor Manuel Diaz, a native of Nicaragua, was found on January 14 “unconscious and unresponsive” in his room at the Camp East Montana facility in El Paso. An ICE press release said staff immediately called contracted medical personnel, who began resuscitation efforts. Emergency responders arrived at the scene, but Diaz could not be saved and was pronounced dead shortly after 4:00 PM. ICE described the case as a “suspected suicide,” while stressing that the official cause of death has yet to be determined.
Diaz was detained on January 6 in Minneapolis as part of the Trump administration’s large-scale deportation campaign. In March 2024, he crossed the U.S.-Mexico border, was apprehended by border agents, issued a notice to appear in immigration court, and then released under supervision. On August 26 last year, a judge ordered his deportation in absentia. On January 12, ICE detained Diaz again for the purpose of removing him from the country.
Camp East Montana is a large tent-based detention complex located on the grounds of the Fort Bliss military base in El Paso.
Last year, 32 people died in ICE facilities—the highest figure in two decades. Since the start of this year, at least five deaths have been reported in immigration detention.
On January 3, a 55-year-old man, Geraldo Lunas Campos, who had immigrated to the United States from Cuba, died at the same facility. ICE said he had been “experiencing medical complications” and that staff provided emergency care in an effort to save his life.
His death may be investigated as a homicide. According to a local medical examiner, the preliminary cause was “asphyxia due to compression of the neck and chest.” ICE claims that Campos suffered a medical emergency after he “behaved aggressively while standing in line for medication.”
Santos Jesus Flores, who was detained with him, told the Washington Post that he saw five guards choking Campos and heard him repeatedly say in Spanish that he could not breathe.
“He was saying, ‘I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe.’ Then his voice faded—and that was it,” the newspaper quoted Flores as saying.
After reports suggested that Campos’s death could be classified as a possible homicide, the Department of Homeland Security said he had allegedly attempted to take his own life and “resisted forcefully” officers who were trying to help him.
The agency’s spokesperson, Tricia McLaughlin, also told the Washington Post—after the article had been published—that Campos had attempted to take his own life. This claim was not included in ICE’s initial statement.
Another detainee at Camp East Montana, 48-year-old Francisco Gaspar-Andres, died on December 3 at a nearby hospital.