Three immigrants die at El Paso ICE facility
A Nicaraguan immigrant arrested by ICE in Minneapolis has become the third detainee at Camp East Montana in El Paso to die after facing deportation.
EL PASO, Texas — A federal judge is scheduled to hear arguments over whether the Trump administration can deport a detainee who was allegedly present when a Cuban immigrant died in a Texas detention facility earlier this month.
The family of Cuban immigrant Gerardo Lunas Campos, 55, plans to file a wrongful death lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, filing a Permanent Petition asking that Santos Jesús Flores, Antonio Azcon Frometa and several other immigrants remain in the United States.
The immigrants will be called to testify in a wrongful death lawsuit filed by Lunas Campos’ family. Senior U.S. District Judge David Briones will preside over the hearing at 1:30 p.m. local time on January 27 at the Albert Armendariz Sr. U.S. Courthouse in downtown El Paso.
Lunas Campos died on January 3 while in custody at Camp East Montana Detention Center, the largest U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in the country. The facility is located on the Fort Bliss property in East El Paso near the U.S.-Mexico border.
On Jan. 21, the El Paso County Medical Examiner ruled Lunas Campos’ death on Jan. 3 a homicide, the El Paso Times, part of the USA TODAY network, reported. The cause of death was “asphyxia due to compression of the neck and torso,” according to the autopsy report.
The same day the autopsy report was released, Briones temporarily blocked federal immigration officials from removing two detainees who claimed to have witnessed guards strangling Lunas Campos.
“There is strong evidence that the guards at this detention center murdered Mr. Lunas Campos,” Max Schoening, an attorney for Lunas Campos’ family, said in an interview with USA TODAY.
Who is who in this case?
Lunas Campos’ three children, Jasmarie Lunas Pagan, Gerald Lunas Pagan and Callie Lunas, filed the petition on January 20th. The petition states that the family “expects to at least file a wrongful death/survival action on charges of negligence, assault, and battery.”
Attorneys Max Schoening, Christopher Benoit and Will Horowitz are representing Lunas Campos’ family.
Other “interested parties” in the lawsuit are the Department of Homeland Security, Akima Global Services, LLC, and Acquisition Logistics, LLC, and Briones’ calendar filed in the Western District of Texas in El Paso.
Akima Global Services is a federal contractor that “provides the people, equipment, and processes that protect federal buildings, military bases, and detention centers,” according to the company’s website. They provide services at Camp East Montana Detention Center.
Acquisition Logistics, LLC has been awarded a $1.26 billion contract to construct and operate the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement El Paso Detention Facility.
No lawyers are listed among the three “interested parties.” The acquisition logistics agreement has not been made public.
Lunas Campos dies at Camp East, Montana
At the time of his death, Lunas Campos had been detained at Camp East Montana for nearly four months. In a Jan. 9 news release, ICE said Lunas Campos was pronounced dead after “experiencing medical distress.”
ICE said Lunas Campos became “disoriented” while waiting in line for medication. He was placed in isolation, where “staff observed him in distress and requested assistance from medical personnel on scene,” authorities said.
Medical staff responded, but Lunas-Campos was pronounced dead at the facility, ICE said. The agency said the death was under investigation, and ICE officials later claimed that Lunas Campos had attempted suicide and that security guards had tried to save him.
However, an autopsy report released by the county medical examiner’s office said Lunas Campos “became unresponsive while being physically restrained by law enforcement.” The man had “scattering of superficial abrasions” all over his body, the report said.
A finding of homicide by the coroner’s office is not a legal finding and does not mean criminal charges will be filed against anyone involved in the case. Federal Bureau of Investigation officials declined to comment on whether they are conducting an investigation.
Family and witnesses say ICE agents killed Lunas Campos
Lunas Campos’ family argued in the petition that witness statements showed he was being strangled by detention officers and called for help.
Flores told the Washington Post in her petition that she witnessed the guard strangling Lunas Campos as he repeatedly said in Spanish, “No puedo respilar” (which means “I can’t breathe” in English). Flores added that she heard Lunas Campos say she couldn’t breathe, and then she couldn’t hear him anymore.
According to the petition, Frometa said she witnessed Lunas Campos ask the guards for medication, but the guards refused to administer it. Frometa said the guard allegedly threatened to take Lunas Campos to solitary confinement.
Flores and Frometa were targeted for deportation after speaking with the Post, the petition states. Briones filed a temporary restraining order on January 21, blocking the Trump administration from deporting Flores and Frometa.
An amended petition filed by the family’s lawyers on January 26th identifies several other immigrants who witnessed Lunas Campos’ moments leading up to his death: Henry Negrin Bolaño, Jenry Melendez, Mayron Paspuerto, and Kobi Ardeniz Nazareth.
The migrants are expected to testify about an incident in which Lunas-Campos begged for drugs, was threatened by a guard, told a guard that he had strangled her, and what appeared to be a struggle between Lunas-Campos and a guard, including one who said she heard “sounds that sounded like a person’s body being slammed against the floor or wall,” the petition said.
The petition asks that all immigrants not be deported and asks that the families’ lawyers be allowed to give oral testimony about what they witnessed.
The Jan. 27 hearing will focus on why Briones should extend the temporary restraining order to a preliminary injunction as the case progresses. Ultimately, the lawyers will seek a permanent injunction to block the immigrants’ deportation until the wrongful death lawsuit is concluded.
Death in Texas immigration ICE detention center
At least 30 people died in ICE custody last year, the highest level in 20 years, according to agency statistics. In the first 10 days of 2026, four immigrants died in federal immigration custody, including Lunas Campos.
Lunas Campos became the second immigrant to die at Camp East Montana. At least three deaths have occurred at the center since it opened in August 2025.
Three immigrants have died at the El Paso Detention Center since it opened in August. The site continues to generate reports of inhumane conditions and human rights abuses, prompting calls from members of Congress to shut it down.
The most recent death was Nicaraguan immigrant Victor Manuel Diaz, 36, who died on January 14th. Diaz “died of a presumed suicide,” ICE announced in a Jan. 18 news release.
The first person to die in custody was Guatemalan immigrant Francisco Gaspar Cristóbal Andrés, 48. According to ICE, the man was taken to the hospital on November 16 and died on December 3 of liver and kidney failure.
The detention center has faced repeated accusations from lawmakers and human rights groups of inhumane conditions and inadequate supervision. Last month, the American Civil Liberties Union and other human rights groups sent a letter to ICE demanding the closure of Camp East Montana.
Contributed by: Eduardo Cuevas, USA TOD; Aaron A. Bedoya, El Paso Times. Reuters
