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The family of Aled Damián Carbonell Betancourt, a 27-year-old Cuban who passed away on April 12 in the Federal Detention Center in Miami while in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), launched a campaign on GoFundMe to raise the necessary funds and repatriate his remains to Cuba.
The campaign was organized by Christine Miscioscia, who identifies as a political relative of the young man, with a goal of $3,000. At the time of its posting last Sunday, $1,700 had been raised from 39 donors.
"Our family is devastated by the sudden loss of my husband's cousin, Aled Damian Carbonell Betancourt, who passed away at the age of 27 while in custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement," wrote Miscioscia on the fundraising platform.
The funds will be allocated to transport the body from the county coroner's office to a funeral home for cremation, which is the only viable method to send it to Cuba.
"This is the only way we can return him to his parents, Yusmela Betancourt and Aled Carbonell, who are devastated by their loss and cannot be here in person," Miscioscia explained.
The young man's parents, a nurse originally from Las Tunas, remain in Cuba without the possibility of traveling to the United States, making cremation and the shipment of ashes the only way for them to receive their son's remains.
"The costs are more than our family can handle alone, and every step is urgent and overwhelming," added the campaign organizer.
Also on Facebook, a relative identified as David Betancourt posted a message of condolence last Monday asking for assistance: "With deep sorrow, we say goodbye to Aled Damián Carbonell Betancourt. We are raising funds to send him to Cuba and cover his expenses. Any help or dissemination is appreciated."
According to the official statement from ICE regarding the young man's death, an officer found Carbonell Betancourt unresponsive in his cell at 6:30 a.m. on April 12. He was declared dead at 7:31 a.m. after resuscitation efforts. The agency classified the death as an "apparent suicide," although the official cause remains under investigation, and it took five days to issue the statement.
The case is part of an alarming pattern of Cuban deaths under ICE custody so far in 2026. Carbonell Betancourt is the second of three Cubans who have died in detention centers this year: the first was Geraldo Lunas Campos, 55 years old, whose autopsy classified his death as homicide by asphyxiation, contradicting ICE’s version, and the third was Denny Adán González, 33 years old, found unconscious on April 28 in Georgia, whose mother demands justice and a thorough investigation.
On May 1st, ICE confirmed at least 18 deaths in its custody so far this year. A study published in the medical journal JAMA on April 16 revealed that the mortality rate in ICE detention centers reached 88.9 deaths per 100,000 detainees in fiscal year 2026, the highest level in 22 years. The detention of Cubans by ICE increased by 463% between October 2024 and the end of 2025, rising from fewer than 200 per month to over 1,000, according to the Cato Institute.
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