Overview
- Luis Beltrán Yáñez-Cruz died on January 6 at John F. Kennedy Memorial Hospital in Indio, California, with Univision reporting the time as 1:18 a.m. Pacific.
- ICE says he reported chest pain on January 4 at the Imperial Regional Detention Center in Calexico, was treated on site, moved to El Centro Regional Medical Center, then flown by helicopter to the Indio hospital.
- He had been arrested by ICE on November 16 during a Newark, New Jersey, operation and was in custody pending removal, with DHS records noting a 1993 deportation, a later irregular reentry, and denied TPS applications between 1999 and 2012.
- DHS says it notified its Office of Professional Responsibility and informed the Honduran Consulate in Los Angeles in line with protocol.
- Relatives launched a GoFundMe to return his body to Texas before repatriation to Honduras and raised concerns about the timeliness of his care, while ICE said detainees receive medical screenings and 24-hour emergency access; media reports say this is one of four ICE-custody deaths so far in 2026.