Man’s Death in ICE Custody Likely To Be Ruled a Homicide, Recording Says

AP Photo/Alex Brandon

An employee at the El Paso County Office of the Medical Examiner said the office is likely to conclude that a man’s death while in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement was a homicide, The Washington Post reported on Thursday.

Geraldo Lunas Campos died on Jan. 3 while detained at Camp East Montana near the Mexican border. In a statement announcing his death six days later, ICE said that “staff observed him in distress” after he “became disruptive while in line for medication.”

“Medical staff responded, initiated lifesaving measures, and requested emergency medical services,” the statement continued. “Lunas was pronounced deceased by EMS.” ICE did not provide a cause of death.

However, an employee with the medical examiner’s office in El Paso told Lunas Campos’s daughter that the coroner is likely to rule the death a homicide, according to a recording of the conversation.

The Post reported:

In the recording, which the daughter shared with The Washington Post, the employee said a doctor there “is listing the preliminary cause of death as asphyxia due to neck and chest compression,” which means Lunas Campos did not get enough oxygen because of pressure on his neck and chest. Pending the results of a toxicology report, the staffer said on the recording, “our doctor is believing that we’re going to be listing the manner of death as homicide.”

According to an internal ICE document viewed by the Post, Lunas Campos, a 55-year-old Cuban immigrant, died after a struggle with staff at the detention facility.

In its statement, ICE said Lunas Campos had several convictions that included unlawful possession of a weapon during a robbery, sexual contact with a child under 11, driving while intoxicated, and sale of a controlled substance. The statement added that a judge had ordered Lunas Campos removed in 2005, but he was not deported because the government did not obtain travel documents. ICE said Lunas Campos was arrested by immigration officials on July 14 and was transferred to Camp East Montana on Sept. 6.

The Post spoke with a man named Santos Jesus Flores, who said he was detained in the same unit as Lunas Campos and saw the deceased struggling with five guards after refusing to enter the unit. Flores said he witnessed guards choking Lunas Campos, who he heard repeatedly saying, “No puedo respirar,” or “I can’t breathe.”

The Post added that the detention facility is “a colossal makeshift tent encampment on the Mexican border where migrants have reported substandard conditions and physical abuse, and ICE’s own inspectors have cited dozens of violations of federal detention standards.”

Immigration enforcement officials are under increasing scrutiny after ICE agent Jonathan Ross fatally shot 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis last week as she attempted to drive away from agents.

Last year, at least 30 people died in immigration detention, the highest total in 20 years. Four have died in detention in the first nine days of 2026, according to the Post.