Overview
- Geraldo Lunas Campos, a 55-year-old Cuban national, died on Jan. 3 at ICE’s Camp East Montana after being placed in segregation, according to the agency’s initial notice.
- In audio shared with the Washington Post, an El Paso medical examiner employee cites a preliminary finding of asphyxia from neck and chest compression with a likely homicide ruling pending toxicology.
- A fellow detainee reported seeing at least five guards restrain and choke Campos as he repeated that he could not breathe.
- DHS and ICE say Campos attempted to take his own life, that staff intervened and he violently resisted, and that the death remains under active investigation.
- The makeshift tent facility has drawn prior federal inspection violations, and the case surfaces during a recent rise in reported deaths in ICE custody following a high toll last year.