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The number of immigrants who have died in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has reached 16 so far this year, following the death of Alejandro Cabrera Clemente, a 49-year-old Mexican citizen found unconscious in his cell at the Winn Correctional Center in Louisiana.
The staff at the center found him unresponsive this weekend and urgently transferred him to the hospital, where he was declared dead shortly after, reported Telemundo.
ICE stated that Cabrera Clemente had a criminal record and was in the process of deportation at the time of his death.
According to the agency, the man had entered the United States without inspection more than 25 years ago, was arrested on January 8, 2026 in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and transferred to the Winn Correctional Center on January 13.
The government of Mexico reported that it is investigating his death.
The figure of 16 fatalities in just three and a half months of 2026 occurs in a context of alarming escalation: in 2025, 33 immigrants died in ICE custody, the highest number in over two decades, far above the 11 recorded throughout 2024.
Currently, there are approximately 60,000 immigrants in ICE custody across the country.
According to data from the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) published on March 18, 2026, since the beginning of the second Trump administration in January 2025, there had been a total of 46 deaths recorded, with a rate in 2026 of approximately one death every six days, which would project more than 60 fatalities by the end of the year.
The KFF analysis also revealed that 32 of those 46 deaths were linked to preexisting medical conditions that were exacerbated during detention, and that 36 occurred in individuals detained for three months or less.
The Winn Correctional Center, operated by the Winn County Sheriff's Office and managed by LaSalle Corrections, houses approximately 1,500 immigrants with pending cases before the Immigration Court and has faced repeated allegations of medical neglect, abuse, and inhumane conditions documented in reports to the Department of Homeland Security since 2020.
Among the most notable cases of 2026 is that of Geraldo Lunas Campos, a 55-year-old Cuban who died on January 3 at the Camp East Montana facility in Fort Bliss, Texas.
The autopsy from the El Paso County Medical Examiner classified his death as homicide by neck and torso compression asphyxia, contradicting the initial version from ICE, which described it as a suicide attempt during a struggle.
Witnesses testified to having seen guards subdue Lunas Campos with a chokehold while he repeated "I can't breathe".
A federal judge halted the deportations of the witnesses in the case to allow for a wrongful death lawsuit.
Human rights organizations have systematically reported on the conditions in detention centers: overcrowding, medical negligence, lack of attention to pre-existing conditions, and limited access to legal representation. According to KFF, 40% of medical emergencies in ICE facilities experience delays attributable to the private contractors managing the facilities.
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