A Cuban immigrant died earlier this month at a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facility in Texas following a physical confrontation with guards, with the local medical examiner indicating the death will likely be classified as a homicide.
Conflicting Accounts of a Death in Custody
Geraldo Lunas Campos, a 55-year-old father of four, died on January 3 at the Camp Montana East facility in El Paso. While the US government initially claimed his death resulted from a suicide attempt which staff tried to prevent, a witness account and preliminary autopsy findings tell a different story.
According to fellow detainee Santos Jesús Flores, who witnessed the incident, Lunas Campos was handcuffed when at least five guards tackled him to the floor. Flores stated that at least one guard placed the detainee in a chokehold until he lost consciousness, uttering "I can't breathe" before he stopped moving.
The El Paso County Medical Examiner's Office informed the family that a preliminary post-mortem indicated the death was a homicide caused by asphyxia due to compression of the chest and neck.
A Facility Run by an Inexperienced Contractor
The incident occurred at Camp Montana East, a vast tent complex built on the Fort Bliss Army base. The $1.2 billion facility, poised to become the largest detention centre in the US, is operated by a private contractor, Acquisition Logistics LLC, based in Virginia.
Notably, the company had no prior experience running a corrections facility. It remains unclear whether the guards involved were government employees or private contractors, as emails to the company seeking comment were not returned.
Lunas Campos, who had legally entered the US in 1996, was one of the first detainees transferred to the camp in September after his arrest in Rochester, New York. ICE stated he was detained due to past criminal convictions that made him eligible for deportation, including a 2003 felony for sexual contact with a minor and a 2009 drug conviction.
Investigation and Family's Quest for Justice
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees ICE, revised its account after queries from the Associated Press, confirming Lunas Campos had "violently resisted" staff and attempted to take his own life. However, DHS did not explain how he tried to do this while reportedly handcuffed, nor did it address the witness testimony.
Jeanette Pagan-Lopez, the mother of Lunas Campos's two youngest children, described him as a devoted father who was working a minimum-wage job before his detention. She is now struggling to get his body returned to Rochester for a funeral after ICE offered free transport only if she agreed to cremation.
Dr Victor Weedn, a forensic pathologist, said the preliminary homicide ruling indicates the guards' actions caused the death, even if no intent to kill existed. A final homicide ruling is pivotal for potential criminal or civil liability. The death's location on a federal Army base may complicate investigations by state and local officials.
The case has intensified scrutiny of conditions within US immigration detention centres, particularly concerning the use of prone restraint, a practice linked to numerous deaths in police custody where individuals suffocate after saying they cannot breathe.
