ICE Detainee Diagnosed With Leukemia Dies After Transfer From Detention
Newsweek · C · trust 57/100
0 Share Newsweek is a Trust Project member See more of our trusted coverage when you search. Prefer Newsweek on Google to see more of our trusted coverage when you search. A 29-year-old Mexican man who was diagnosed with leukemia after becoming ill while in Immigration and Customs Enforcement ( ICE ) custody in Georgia has died, according to his family and human rights advocates.
Prisciliano Trejo Ricano died on July 22 after spending about three weeks in federal immigration custody, his family said. He was released from ICE custody on July 16 “with an order of recognizance,” a DHS Spokesperson told Newsweek in an email Friday.
DHS said Trejo Ricano was charged with a DWI and hit-and-run, which the Durham County Sheriff’s Department confirmed to Newsweek as well. The department said he was first arrested by local officers in the early morning of June 19 “on charges of DWI, hit-and-run, leaving the scene with property damage, no operator’s license, and driving the wrong way.” The office noted he had an immigration detainer and was later transferred to ICE agents on June 25.
“My family is shattered,” his father, Prisciliano Trejo Ricano Sr., told Newsweek in Spanish during a phone interview. “The people who are inside [the detention center] don’t care, they see them [detainees] as animals."
Ryan Gustin, senior director of public affairs at CoreCivic, who oversees the Stewart Detention Center (SDC) where Trejo Ricano was held, told Newsweek the group is “deeply saddened by and take very seriously the passing of any individual who has been in our care,” adding that the safety and well-being of detainees is their “top priority.”
Trejo Ricano's death has renewed scrutiny of medical care in ICE detention facilities and whether detainees with serious illnesses receive adequate treatment. ICE has faced a litany of allegations from detainees over inadequate medical care in detention facilities.
The Trump administration has ramped up immigration enforcement efforts as it seeks to carry out what President Donald Trump has described as the largest deportation operation in U.S. history. In June, federal immigration agents arrested more than 43,000 people, according to ICE data.
At least 55 individuals have died in ICE custody under the second Trump administration, including 22 this year, according to a Newsweek analysis of detainee death notifications.
Trejo Ricano was born in Mexico and was brought to the United States when he was 3 years old, his father told Newsweek . He completed high school in the U.S. and worked for a welding company. His father said he has previously been enrolled in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, known as DACA, but did not renew his status last year.
The DACA program, established by the Obama administration in 2012, provides temporary protection from deportation and work authorization for certain undocumented immigrants who arrived in the United States as children. The program does not provide a pathway to permanent residency or citizenship, and participants must periodically renew their status.
Trejo Ricano was arrested on June 19 in North Carolina on DWI and other charges, and a Durham County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson confirmed to Newsweek he was released on the morning of June 25 to immigration officials.
A DHS spokesperson described Trejo Ricano as a “criminal alien,” and noted he was arrested by ICE officers on June 25 and was admitted to Stewart Detention Center, a sprawling immigration detention center that holds around 1,700 people in Lumpkin, Georgia, and is operated by CoreCivic, on June 27.
In some cases, people are first arrested by local law enforcement agencies before being transferred to federal immigration authorities for detention or removal proceedings. His father said Trejo Ricano was drinking on the day of his arrest, and noted that ICE was at the local jail where Ricano was held.
Trejo Ricano Sr. described his son as a joyful person who enjoyed joking with family members and working alongside his brother. "He was a cheerful boy," his father said. "He always played jokes on his mother."
A GoFundMe set up by his cousin on his behalf described Trejo Ricano as “a confident, funny, and outgoing person.”
He worked at a welding company, his father said, and maintained an active lifestyle, going to the gym at least twice a week. Trejo Ricano is survived by a brother and two sisters, according to his father.
The Carolina Migrant Network held a vigil for Trejo Ricano in Charlotte, North Carolina, on July 24.
Trejo Ricano Sr. said his son first began experiencing health symptoms around July 6 or July 7, noting that Trejo Ricano began coughing up blood and had blood in his saliva while detained at Stewart Detention Center.
A GoFundMe set up by his cousin on his behalf said Trejo Ricano had a “bruise that would not heal,” while in detention.
Trejo Ricano repeatedly told family members on calls from the detention center that he was seeking medical attention while in ICE custody, his father said.
"Every day I asked him" whether he had requested help, his father said. "Every day he told me the same thing, that no one attends to him." His father alleged that detainees at the facility were not receiving adequate attention from staff, which DHS denied, telling Newsweek , "Claims that he did not receive medical care while in custody are FALSE. He received medical screening when he was admitted to Stewart Detention Center on June 27. He also received medical care on July 10 when he complained of a cough and sore throat.”
The spokesperson added that Trejo Ricano “tested negative for strep and received QC Mucus Relief Sinus for his cough” on July 10. Three days later, he was treated “with a saline IV, Amoxicillin, Ibuprofen, and Tylenol.”
Gustin of CoreCivic told Newsweek that once medical concerns were brought up, the staff promptly handled it, saying, "Facility medical staff immediately addressed the medical concerns once they…
Read the original at Newsweek →
Open in TruthVane →