Following the deaths earlier this year of two individuals in immigration custody in Georgia, the state’s two U.S. senators are seeking answers.
Democratic Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock on Wednesday wrote a letter to the Trump administration’s top immigration officials to inquire about conditions inside detention facilities in Georgia and their plans to prevent further fatalities.
The senators’ letter, directed to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement Todd Lyons, also took the administration to task for delays in publicly reporting immigrant detainees’ deaths.
“We write with serious alarm regarding the rise in the number of deaths in (ICE) custody nationwide. We are especially concerned by the deaths of two individuals in ICE custody in Georgia this year,” the senators wrote.
“DHS must address safety and conditions within detention facilities in Georgia and across the country to prevent more deaths in its custody.”
DHS criticized the senators in a statement shared to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
“Senators Ossoff and Warnock stayed quiet as the Biden administration lost 450,000 unaccompanied migrant children and opened our border to terrorists and gang members. Their silence on the demonization of federal law enforcement by their colleagues is equally as deafening,” an agency spokesperson said. “All in-custody deaths are tragic, taken seriously, and are thoroughly investigated by law enforcement. ICE takes its commitment to promoting safe, secure, humane environments for those in our custody very seriously.”
Referenced in the senators’ letter are the deaths of Abelardo Avellaneda-Delgado and Jesus Molina-Veya, both Mexican nationals in Georgia ICE custody at the time of their deaths. Nationwide, there have been 14 reported deaths of immigrants in ICE custody since January. Ten of those deaths took place between January and June, “the highest number of deaths in the first six months of any year listed in ICE’s public records,” the senators wrote.
Avellaneda-Delgado, 68, died May 5 while being transferred to South Georgia’s Stewart Detention Center, one of the country’s largest ICE facilities, from a jail in Valdosta. He had first been arrested roughly a month earlier because of a parole violation. Avellaneda-Delgado’s transfer was being handled by TransCor, a private company contracted by ICE to transport detainees.
Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez
Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez
In an interview with the Guardian, Avellaneda-Delgado’s relatives said he had no known preexisting health conditions before his arrest. An ICE report on the Mexican national’s death states he “became unresponsive” en route to Stewart. TransCor staff called 911, but first respondents found no pulse or respiratory activity when they arrived. Avellaneda-Delgado was pronounced deceased shortly thereafter.
In their letter, Ossoff and Warnock asked the Trump officials for more information about Avellaneda-Delgado’s death, including the official cause. They also pressed them for details about the oversight measures the administration has in place for transportation contractors.
Molina-Veya’s death June 7 was a confirmed suicide. The 45-year-old was found with a ligature around his neck inside his cell at the Stewart Detention Center. His was the third death by suicide at Stewart since ICE began detaining immigrants there in 2006.
The senators asked Trump administration officials about access to mental health and suicide prevention resources for Stewart detainees.
“Persistent deficiencies in medical care may contribute to preventable deaths and serious illness,” they wrote.
They also asked for details about Molina-Veya’s conditions of confinement at the time of his death, and copies of any third-party inspection reports of Georgia ICE facilities conducted this year.
ICE guidance requires the agency to post a notice of any detainee death to the agency’s website within 48 hours, and notes that “every effort should be made to post the interim notice” sooner — “as quickly as reasonably possible.”
According to Ossoff and Warnock, ICE failed to meet its 48-hour deadline when publicly reporting the deaths of Avellaneda-Delgado and Molina-Veya, “thereby hindering Congressional oversight efforts and leaving families in the dark as to their loved ones’ fates.”
Last month, Ossoff’s office released the results of a monthslong investigation into conditions inside immigration detention facilities across the country, which enumerated multiple instances of alleged mistreatment and “human rights abuse.”
The investigation highlighted 14 reports of alleged mistreatment of pregnant woman in custody, as well as 18 reports of alleged mistreatment of children, including U.S. citizens.
Shortly thereafter, DHS issued a news release pushing back on the findings.
“Politicians stayed quiet as the Biden administration lost 450,000 unaccompanied migrant children and opened our border to terrorists and gang members. Yet now, these same politicians are peddling FALSE claims that rely on inaccurate reporting to score political points,” Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said.
“These false allegations are garbage and are part of the reason ICE agents are now facing an 1,000% increase in assaults against them,” McLaughlin added.
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