CNN

Medical examiner rules ICE detainee’s death at Texas facility a homicide

By CNN

Published January 21, 2026 9:01 pm

KFOX, WHAM, POLICE HANDOUTS, CNN

By Elizabeth Wolfe, Danya Gainor, CNN

(CNN) — Earlier this month, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced a Cuban migrant had died at a Texas detention camp after experiencing “medical distress,” giving little detail of what led up to his final moments.

Now, a medical examiner ruled that the death of Geraldo Lunas Campos was a homicide, the Associated Press reported Wednesday – a revelation that is likely to heighten scrutiny of the facility after three of its detainees have died in recent weeks.

The 55-year-old’s body showed signs of struggle, with the autopsy report noting abrasions on his chest and knees and hemorrhages on his neck, AP reported. He died of asphyxia caused by compression of his neck and torso, the report said.

Lunas Campos died inside the Camp East Montana facility in El Paso the night of January 3, according to a release from ICE. The Department of Homeland Security told CNN in a statement that Lunas Campos “violently resisted staff” who tried to intervene while he was trying to kill himself.

But a witness told AP last week that Lunas Campos was handcuffed during the incident as at least five guards held him down. The witness said one guard put an arm around his neck and squeezed until he was unconscious.

The autopsy report notes witnesses saw Lunas Campos “become unresponsive while being physically restrained by law enforcement,” but does not provide more detail, AP reported. It did, however, point to evidence of injuries to his neck, head and torso associated with physical restraint.

The homicide finding does not imply intent to kill, but that the victim’s death was caused by another person, Lee Ann Grossberg, an independent forensic pathologist who reviewed the autopsy, told The Washington Post.

CNN has reached out the El Paso County Medical Examiner’s Office for information on the autopsy.

ICE initially provided a less detailed account of what happened before the man’s death.

That day, Lunas Campos had been put in a segregated unit after he “became disruptive while in line for medication and refused to return to his assigned dorm,” ICE said in a January 9 release. Later on, staff “observed him in distress,” the agency said. Medical personnel and EMS were summoned, but he was pronounced dead shortly after 10 p.m.

In a statement Wednesday, a DHS spokesperson said the man was attempting suicide and “security staff immediately intervened to save his life.”

“Campos violently resisted the security staff and continued to attempt to take his life. During the ensuing struggle, Campos stopped breathing and lost consciousness,” the spokesperson said.

Lunas Campos had been in federal custody since July, when he was arrested in Rochester, New York, as part of an immigration operation, ICE said. He was transferred to the El Paso facility in September.

After Lunas Campos arrived in the US in 1996, he amassed years of criminal charges and convictions, some of which are felonies, according to ICE. The agency cited 10 convictions between 1998 and 2009, including selling a controlled substance, armed robbery and sexual contact with a child under 11. Though a judge ordered him to be removed from the US in 2005, Lunas Campos was not deported because the government was unable to secure travel documents, ICE said.

In its announcement of the death, ICE said it is “committed to ensuring that all those in custody reside in safe, secure and humane environments.” It added that “comprehensive medical care is provided from the moment individuals arrive and throughout the entirety of their stay.”

Three of the camp’s detainees have died

Lunas Campos is among at least three Camp East Montana detainees to die while in ICE custody in recent weeks, including one who died while receiving treatment at a nearby hospital.

Francisco Gaspar-Andres, a Guatemalan who ICE has said entered the US illegally, received medical care several times following his September 1 detainment for issues including alcohol withdrawal, acid reflux, flu-like symptoms and hypertension, according to an ICE statement last month.

Gaspar-Andres, 48, was admitted to an El Paso hospital due to low sodium levels in November, and his health continued to decline before he died December 3, the statement said. His cause of death had yet to be determined but “medical staff attributed it to natural liver and kidney failure,” ICE said.

The other detainee, Victor Manuel Diaz, was found unconscious and unresponsive in his room at Camp East Montana on January 14 by contract security staff who began life-saving measures, according to ICE. Shortly after EMS took over, they determined Diaz had died.

“(Diaz) died of a presumed suicide; however, the official cause of his death remains under investigation,” ICE said January 18.

Diaz, a 36-year-old from Nicaragua, was detained in Minneapolis earlier this month for an immigration violation, according to ICE. It’s not clear when he was moved to Camp East Montana.

Camp East Montana has drawn criticism from Texas Democratic lawmakers and the ACLU, who have voiced concern over the detainee deaths, migrant treatment and living conditions.

US Rep. Veronica Escobar, a Texas Democrat, cited Gaspar-Andres’s death as one of several concerns she has about hygiene and safety at the facility. In a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons last month, she called conditions at the camp “dangerous and inhumane.”

The ACLU in Texas, which has called for the camp to be shut down, said it believes Lunas Campos’s death is part of a “broader pattern of unchecked violence and abuse carried out by ICE against members of our communities on the taxpayer’s dime.”

DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in September that “any claim that there are ‘inhumane’ conditions at ICE detention centers are categorically false.

“All detainees are provided with proper meals, medical treatment, and have opportunities to communicate with lawyers and their family members. It is a longstanding practice to provide comprehensive medical care from the moment an alien enters ICE custody,” McLaughlin said, adding she believes the facility provides “the best healthcare that many aliens have received in their entire lives.”

Camp East Montana, a tent facility erected at Fort Bliss, is expected to become the largest detention facility in the US, according to the AP. The outlet reported in August that the $1.2 billion facility would be operated by a private contractor.