by Sharad Swaney, Director of Centered America
EL PASO, Texas — An employee at the El Paso County Office of the Medical Examiner told family members that the death of a man held in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody at Camp East Montana, near Fort Bliss, will likely be classified as a homicide, according to The Washington Post.
The detainee has been identified as 55-year-old Cuban national Geraldo Lunas Campos, who died on January 3, 2026, while in ICE custody. The facility, one of the largest immigration detention centers in the United States, has drawn scrutiny for conditions and complaints about treatment of detainees.
The preliminary finding shared with Campos’s family said the cause of death was “asphyxia due to neck and chest compression.” That determination is pending toxicology results, and a final ruling has not yet been officially released.
An ICE detainee told The Washington Post that he saw guards in a confrontation with Campos and described seeing him choked while Campos called out, “I can’t breathe.” That account has not been independently verified by authorities.
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In its initial announcement of his death, ICE said Campos was found “in distress” and that medical personnel responded. ICE has also said Campos had been disruptive earlier in the day and was placed in segregation before being discovered unresponsive.
The El Paso County medical examiner’s office has not publicly confirmed the preliminary details but generally provides official cause and manner of death determinations after completing all pathology and toxicology work.
This case adds to a series of deaths reported in immigration detention. Government tallies show multiple fatalities in ICE custody in late 2025 and early 2026, and federal authorities including the FBI have been reported to be examining circumstances around Campos’s death.
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Thank you for fighting.
Furious! They will pay someday!
Oooh okay maybe ICE will say he committed suicide