Havana/A 33-year-old Cuban migrant, Denny Adán González, died on April 28 at the Stewart detention center in Lumpkin, Georgia, while he was in the custody of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE) in the United States. The case took place just weeks after another Cuban died in similar circumstances.
According to an official statement from ICE, posted yesterday fridayAdán González was found unconscious in his cell around 10:25 p.m. The staff at the center, operated by the private company CoreCivic, began cardiopulmonary resuscitation maneuvers and requested emergency medical assistance. However, he was pronounced dead at 11:11 p.m. ICE indicated that the cause of death is under investigation and that suicide is preliminarily suspected.
According to the EFE agency, journalist and lawyer Andrew Free pointed out, citing internal sources at the center, that González would have been sent to solitary confinement after an altercation with a guard, although neither ICE nor the company CoreCivic have confirmed this version. According to Guardian, The Stewart Detention Center, where the death occurred, has previously been singled out for allegations of medical neglect and inappropriate use of solitary confinement, and this would be at least the fourth suicide recorded at that facility.
The Stewart Detention Center, where the death occurred, has been singled out for allegations of medical negligence and inappropriate use of solitary confinement.
Adán González had entered the United States for the first time in May 2019 through the port of entry of Hidalgo, Texas, where he was considered inadmissible. After a “credible fear” evaluation, he received a summons and an immigration judge ordered his deportation to Cuba in December of that year. He was expelled in January 2020, but later re-entered irregularly and was detained again in April 2022 in El Paso. Since then he was under a supervision order, reporting periodically to ICE in Charlotte, North Carolina, until September 2025.
On December 12, 2025, he was arrested by the Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office on charges of assault on a female and domestic violence. ICE issued an immigration detainer and, in January 2026, he was transferred to the Stewart Detention Center, where he remained awaiting his immigration process.
With this death, there are 18 deaths recorded so far in 2026 in immigration custody in the United States, and 50 since January 2025, when Donald Trump returned to the presidency. In 2025 alone, 32 people died in these centers, the highest number in more than two decades. Of that total, at least four correspond to Cuban migrants.
With this death, the number of deaths in immigration custody in the United States has risen to 50 since January 2025. Of the total, four are Cubans.
Aled Damien Carbonell Betancourt, a 27-year-old Cuban, who died on April 12 at the Miami Federal Detention Center, had died in similar circumstances. According to ICE, an officer found him in his cell in what “appeared to be a suicide attempt.” As in the case of González, the staff began resuscitation maneuvers and requested medical assistance, but death was confirmed shortly after.
ICE has attributed several deaths to suicide, although family members and coroners have sometimes questioned these conclusions. In the case of Cuban Gerardo Lunas Campos, who died in Texas, an autopsy determined that it was a homicide due to asphyxiation after the use of physical force, contradicting the initial version.
Another case of a Cuban dying in ICE custody is that of Isidro Pérezage 75, died June 26, 2025 at HCA Kendall Hospital in Miami while in the Krome Detention Center awaiting deportation.
In almost half of the cases, the cause of death is not clearly determined, which limits accountability.
The increase in deaths coincides with the accelerated growth of immigration detention in the United States. According to a study published in the scientific journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA)the mortality rate in ICE centers has increased steadily since 2023. That year, 13 deaths were recorded per 100,000 detainees; in 2024 it rose to 31.8; in 2025 to 47.5; and in January 2026 it reached 88.9, the highest level in more than two decades.
The report warns of “structural weaknesses in medical care, mental health protection and death review” in a population completely dependent on the State. It also points out that in almost half of the cases the cause of death is not clearly determined, which limits accountability.
