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The death of Geraldo Lunas Campos, a 55-year-old Cuban who passed away on January 3 while in immigration custody in Texas, has brought the immigrant detention system in the United States into the spotlight and opened the door to a potential judicial halt on deportations related to the case.
A federal judge in El Paso will hear arguments to prevent the government from deporting several migrants who claim to have witnessed the final moments of life of the Cuban inside the Camp East Montana detention center, the largest in the country and located on military grounds of Fort Bliss.
The family of Lunas Campos is seeking for those witnesses to remain in the United States to testify in a future wrongful death lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security, according to reports from and .
The audience becomes particularly significant after the county coroner of El Paso concluded that Lunas Campos's death was a homicide, caused by asphyxia due to compression of the neck and torso, a finding that directly contradicts the initial version provided by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
According to the autopsy report, the Cuban lost consciousness while being physically restrained by security personnel, with multiple visible abrasions on the body.
The family's lawyers maintain that several detainees heard Lunas Campos pleading for help and repeatedly saying in Spanish that he could not breathe while being restrained by the guards.
Two of those witnesses, one Cuban and the other Salvadoran, witnessed attempts at deportation shortly after speaking with the press, which led Judge David Briones to temporarily block their removal while the substance of the case is assessed, as reported by USA Today.
"There is very solid evidence that the guards at this facility killed Mr. Lunas Campos," stated attorney Max Schoening, who represents the family.
The defense further claims that ICE's official account has changed over the days, shifting from an alleged "medical emergency" to the narrative of a suicide attempt, which contradicts the forensic report and eyewitness testimonies.
Lunas Campos had been living in the United States for decades and had a final order of deportation since 2005 that could not be carried out due to a lack of travel documents to Cuba.
He was arrested in July 2025 in New York and transferred months later to Texas, where he died handcuffed, isolated, and far from his children, in a facility that has already seen several deaths since its opening and faces increasing complaints about inhumane conditions, according to El Paso Times.
The judge must now decide whether to extend the temporary block on deportations and allow the witnesses to remain in the country while the civil lawsuit proceeds. For the family of the deceased Cuban, the goal is to prevent those who witnessed the events from being silenced by deportation and to ensure that the death of Geraldo Lunas Campos is not buried behind the walls of a detention center.
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