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An undocumented immigrant died while in custody at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Texas for the second time in the past month, the agency announced on Sunday (January 18) via ABC News.
Victor Manuel Diaz, 36, of Nicaragua, was found dead on January 14 at Camp East Montana, a sprawling tent complex at the U.S. Army's Fort Bliss base in El Paso, and an investigation into his official cause of death is ongoing, though ICE claimed it was a "presumed suicide" in a press release. Diaz reportedly entered the U.S. illegally in March 2024 and was ordered by an immigration judge to be removed in August 2025, according to ICE.
Diaz had been in custody since January 6, when ICE said officers "encountered" him in Minneapolis amid its ongoing focus on the city and was arrested for an immigration violation, having been processed as a final order of removal on January 12, two days prior to being found unconscious and unresponsive in his room, according to the agency. ICE said life-saving measures were performed by on-site medical and El Paso emergency medical services personnel before Diaz was pronounced dead at the scene.
"ICE is committed to ensuring that all those in custody reside in safe, secure and humane environments," ICE said in its press release.
Diaz is the second detainee reported to have died while in custody at Camp East Montana detention facility this month, following Geraldo Lunas Campos, 55, of Cuba, who died "after experiencing medical distress," according to an ICE press release, though his cause of death remains under investigation.