Medical examiner finds Cuban detainee died by homicide in El Paso ICE facility

A Cuban detainee's death inside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in El Paso, Texas, was ruled a homicide by asphyxiation due to restraint, according to an autopsy report that directly contradicts initial claims by federal officials.

The autopsy report, released Wednesday by the county medical examiner’s office, found that Geraldo Lunas Campos, 55, had been restrained by law enforcement agents and died from “asphyxia due to neck and torso compression.” The manner of death was classified as homicide.

A fellow detainee said on January 3 that he witnessed guards choking Lunas Campos, a father of four, to death at the notorious ICE detention center, which has faced longstanding criticism from immigrant rights groups.

The medical examiner reported signs of multiple blows to Lunas Campos’ head and neck, including burst blood vessels on the front and sides of his neck and on his eyelids, findings consistent with prolonged compression.

ICE officials, however, said Lunas Campos became unresponsive while being physically restrained. According to the agency, after restraining him, “staff observed him in distress,” prompting a call for emergency medical responders in an attempt to resuscitate him.

He was pronounced dead at the scene, nearly three decades after entering the United States in 1996.

In contrast to the autopsy findings, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) claimed that Lunas Campos’ death was the result of his suicide attempt.

A medical examiner’s classification of homicide does not itself establish criminal culpability, as it describes how a death occurred rather than assigning legal responsibility. Nevertheless, the ruling has intensified scrutiny of ICE’s use of force and its record of deaths in custody, particularly among Latin American migrants seeking asylum in the United States.

Lunas Campos’ family has insisted he was killed by detention center guards, citing witnesses who said they saw officers choke him.

Their attorney, Will Horowitz, said the family is preparing to file a wrongful-death lawsuit.

Horowitz said the family petitioned a federal judge to halt the deportation of two detainees who witnessed the death or events immediately preceding it. Both witnesses have since received deportation notices. The victim’s children asked the court to block the removals so the witnesses can testify in the wrongful-death case.

Lunas Campos is one of three people who have died while in custody at the El Paso ICE facility since it opened in August.

Francisco Gaspar-Andres, 48, of Guatemala, died on December 3, about two weeks after being hospitalized in El Paso. An autopsy determined he died from liver complications. Victor Manuel Diaz, 36, of Nicaragua, died on January 14. His death was classified as a “presumed suicide,” and the case remains under investigation.

In the meantime, demonstrators have been protesting against ICE after Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother of 3, was killed in Minneapolis, Minnesota, earlier this month.

Protesters gathered outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis on Monday, protesting the fatal shooting of the US-born woman by an ICE agent.

Local leaders slammed ICE's presence in the area, with Minneapolis' Democratic Mayor Jacob Frey telling the agency to “get the f‑‑‑ out of Minneapolis.”

Good was accused by the Trump administration of attempting to run the ICE agent over with her car. The woman's effort to flee from the brutal ICE agents was described as an act of “domestic terrorism.” US President Donald Trump has defended the violent anti-immigration procedures of federal agencies. 

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