Jesús Manuel Arenas Silva, a 45-year-old Venezuelan, died on July 13 while in the custody of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as he was being transported by bus between two detention centers in Georgia, according to the federal agency reported through EFE.
With his passing, the number of migrants who have died in ICE custody so far in 2026 rises to 22, according to the count from the National Immigration Project.
What happened during the transfer
Custody personnel found Arenas Silva unconscious at around 7:46 in the morning while the bus was en route between the Irwin County Detention Center in Ocilla and the D. Ray Processing Center in Folkston.
Paramedics transferred him to Irwin County Hospital, where he was pronounced dead less than an hour later, at 8:31 a.m.
The ICE noted in its statement that "it is suspected that the cause of death was cardiac arrest," although it clarified that "the official cause is pending further medical examination."
The agency did not publicly report the death until July 15, two days after it occurred, through the Notifications of Deaths of Detainees.
The family's complaint: without medication in custody
For the Arenas Silva family, the story does not begin with the alleged heart attack, but with what happened before he was detained.
Her sister Sonimar Arenas Silva —the only family member she had in the United States— reported to Detention Watch Network, according to an article by Univision, that the family tried to prevent the transfer from the very beginning due to the Venezuelan's medical condition.
"We urged ICE not to take him due to his medical needs, but they ignored our pleas. They also disregarded our request that they at least allow him to take his medication, and they only permitted him to take one medication," Sonimar stated.
According to the same organization, Arenas Silva confirmed to his sister, once in custody, that the agents were not providing him with the medications he needed.
The family believes that the death may have been due to alleged medical negligence. The ICE, for its part, maintains that Arenas Silva received medical attention and was evaluated by health personnel before the fatal transfer.
The migration history of the Venezuelan
Arenas Silva entered the United States irregularly around October 11, 2021, near Calexico, California, after being declared inadmissible at the San Luis, Arizona port of entry.
On April 27, 2026, an immigration judge in Atlanta ordered his deportation to Venezuela.
He was arrested on July 9, 2026 during a migration operation in Dallas, Georgia, due to an active deportation order. Four days later, he was dead.
A particularly lethal week for migrants
The case of Arenas Silva occurred during a week marked by multiple deaths linked to ICE operations.
On July 7, the Mexican Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a father of three, was shot dead by an ICE agent in Houston, Texas.
On that same July 13, the Colombian Joan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, 26 years old and a father of a three-year-old girl, was shot by an ICE officer in Biddeford, Maine, while on his way to work. The following day, a 28-year-old Mexican was killed in Florida after being struck by a vehicle while running across a highway to escape a migration operation.
A mortality rate at historic levels
In 2025, 33 migrants died while in ICE custody, the highest number in two decades. In 2026, with only seven months gone by, 22 deaths have already been recorded.
Human Rights Watch and Physicians for Human Rights published the report "Dying in Detention" in June 2026, which documents 52 deaths in the first 500 days of Donald Trump's second term.
The same document indicates that the mortality rate in ICE detention centers has more than doubled, reaching 88.9 deaths per 100,000 detainees.
This is the highest level in 22 years, surpassing the peak recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic.
While Sonimar Arenas Silva deals with the funeral arrangements and awaits the results of the autopsy, her family's complaint about the denied medications remains unanswered officially.
Related videos:
Filed under: