Luis Ramirez-Marcano dies in ICE custody, third detainee death this fiscal year

Daily Kos Staff

Friday February 23, 2018 · 8:46 AM PST

2018/02/23 · 08:46

ADELANTO, CA - NOVEMBER 15: A guard escorts an immigrant detainee from his 'segregation cell' back into the general population at the Adelanto Detention Facility on November 15, 2013 in Adelanto, California. Most detainees in segregation cells are sent there for fighting with other immigrants, according to guards. The facility, the largest and newest Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), detention center in California, houses an average of 1,100 immigrants in custody pending a decision in their immigration cases or awaiting deportation. The average stay for a detainee is 29 days. The facility is managed by the private GEO Group. ICE detains an average of 33,000 undocumented immigrants in more than 400 facilities nationwide. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)

Luis Ramirez-Marcano, a 59-year-old Cuban man, has become the third immigrant to die while in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention this fiscal year. Ramirez-Marcano was transferred from Miami’s Krome Detention Center to a hospital after complaining about adbominal pain, the New York Daily News reports:

"On Feb. 18, medical staff at KRMC informed ICE staff that Ramirez-Marcano was transferred to the intensive care unit where his condition continued to decline," the agency said in a statement.

"Despite round-the-clock care, Ramirez-Marcano passed away the afternoon of Feb. 19."

Kamyar Samini, a 64-year-old Iranian man, died on December 2 due to cardiac arrest while in ICE custody, the first of fiscal year 2018. Yulio Castro-Garrido, a 33-year-old Cuban man, died from pneumonia on January 22. ICE initially alleged that Castro-Garrido refused treatment, then later said that he “was resistant to some forms of medical intervention.” The cause of Ramirez-Marcano’s death is so far unknown.

For years, detainees have alleged that Krome, formerly a “Cold War-era air defense base,” has been “troubled by mismanagement and abuse,” according to the Miami New Times in 2015. “Detainees have alleged they were badly treated by unruly guards; former guards, meanwhile, say they've been systematically retaliated against for speaking out about problems.”

“Fatalities in ICE custody … are exceedingly rare,” the agency claimed in a press release, but fiscal year 2017 was ICE’s deadliest year since 2009. With congressional Republicans only wanting to throw more money at ICE and a mass deportation architect like ICE acting Director Thomas Homan in control, 2018 could be even more terrifying, and even more deadly.

Luis Ramirez-Marcano dies in ICE custody, third detainee death this fiscal year

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