- - DHS can't deport detainees who saw man's death in custody, judge rules

Eduardo Cuevas, USA TODAY January 23, 2026 at 11:51 PM

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The Trump administration can’t yet deport detainees reportedly present when a 55-year-old Cuban man died inside a Texas detention facility, a judge ruled.

On Jan. 21, the El Paso County Medical Examiner ruled Geraldo Lunas Campos’ Jan. 3 death inside the Camp East Montana detention facility a homicide, the El Paso Times, part of the USA TODAY Network, reported. The autopsy report showed his cause of death as “asphyxia due to neck and torso compression.”

The same day as the autopsy report’s release, U.S. Judge Steven Briones temporarily blocked federal immigration officials from removing two detainees who said they saw guards choking Lunas Campos.

“There is very strong evidence that the guards at this detention center killed Mr. Lunas Campos,” Max Schoening, a lawyer for Lunas Campos' family, said in an interview with USA TODAY.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security didn’t respond to emailed questions about the court ruling or its assessment about the medical examiner’s report.

In an emailed statement, DHS said Lunas Campos “violently resisted the security staff” and tried to take his own life.

“During the ensuing struggle, Campos stopped breathing and lost consciousness,” the DHS statement said. “Medical staff was immediately called and responded. After repeated attempts to resuscitate him, EMTs declared him deceased on the scene.”

Geraldo Lunas Campos

Lunas Campos’ three children plan to sue federal officials for his death. Lawyers for his family petitioned a federal court to block the removals of Santos Jesus Flores and Antonio Ascon Frometa, who are respectively from El Salvador and Cuba.

Flores and Frometa told the Washington Post they saw guards choking Lunas Campos as he said he couldn’t breathe. The Post reported the Trump administration sought to remove the two men days after speaking with the newspaper. Records show both men are still held at Camp East Montana, which is a privately run detention facility. Briones’ temporary restraining order blocking their removal is effective until Feb. 4.

When U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement first announced Lunas Campos’ death, officials said Lunas Campos was experiencing medical distress before dying. Later, after the Washington Post’s reporting, the Department of Homeland Security said Lunas Campos attempted to take his own life before a violent struggle with staff.

The medical examiner’s report, while not indicative of criminal charges, is significant in understanding the circumstances leading up to Lunas Campos’ death. A homicide means at least one person caused his death.

Schoening said the government’s version of events has been changing, and has been contradicted by the medical examiner’s ruling and witnesses present when Lunas Campos died.

“It's basically consistent with the pattern of lies covered up in fabrication by DHS, ICE, and the United States government about its treatment of immigrants in this country,” Schoening said.

DHS has frequently highlighted Lunas Campos as a convicted sex offender. Officials said he entered the United States in 1996 and has several convictions, including criminal possession of a weapon, sexual contact with a child under 11, petit larceny and driving while intoxicated.

An immigration judge in 2005 ordered his removal, DHS said, but the U.S. government couldn’t obtain travel documents to remove him to Cuba.

An aerial view shows an ICE detention facility at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, on Aug. 8, 2025.

Schoening declined to answer questions about his criminal record.

Federal immigration agents arrested Lunas Campos during a July 14 planned enforcement operation in Rochester, New York, where his family lives. He had been held in Camp East Montana since his Sept. 6 transfer.

Lunas Campos is the third Camp East Montana detainee to die since the facility opened in August. On Dec. 3, Francisco Gaspar-Andres, a 48-year-old Guatemalan man at the detention center, died at an El Paso hospital after experiencing kidney and liver issues, ICE said. On Jan. 14, 36-year-old Nicaraguan national Victor Manuel Diaz died in custody. ICE on Jan. 18 said Diaz's death was a presumed suicide but is under investigation.

A USA TODAY analysis found ICE has rapidly expanded its facilities and the number of people in its custody. There are also more deaths in immigrant detention.

Contributing: Chloe Kim, Lauren Villagran, Ignacio Calderon and Jennifer Borresen of USA TODAY; Aaron Martinez of the El Paso Times

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Judge blocks deporting detainees who saw man's death in ICE detention

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