A 34-year-old Mexican man has died by apparent suicide while in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody in Missouri — the second such death in the state this year and part of what advocates are calling a troubling pattern inside the federal detention system.
The death of Leo Cruz-Silva on October 4 comes just months after that of Brayan Garzón-Rayo, a 27-year-old Colombian man who was also found unresponsive in his Missouri jail cell in April.
In both cases, ICE said the deaths appeared to be suicides. Records later showed that ICE had not followed its own medical protocols before Garzón-Rayo's death, prompting renewed questions about oversight and detainee care, as St. Louis Public Radio reports.
Cruz-Silva was discovered in his cell at the Ste. Genevieve County Jail one day after being transferred there. According to ICE, a staff member found him "with a sheet tied around his neck in what looked like a suicide attempt." Jail staff and paramedics attempted CPR, but he was pronounced dead at 3:47 p.m.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol is investigating.
Originally from Mexico, Cruz-Silva had been arrested by Festus police on September 30 for public intoxication and transferred to ICE custody two days later. ICE said he had been deported multiple times since 2011 and was most recently expelled to Mexico under Title 42 in 2020.
"ICE remains committed to ensuring that all those in its custody reside in safe, secure, and humane environments," the agency said in an official statement. It added that comprehensive medical and mental health care is provided from intake onward and that relevant authorities, including the Department of Homeland Security's inspector general and the Mexican consulate, were notified.
Community groups assisting detained immigrants described the incident as devastating. "We have to do a lot of work to identify who is in our jail as an ICE detainee, and sometimes that takes a couple of days," said Susie Johnson, a board member with Abide in Love–Ste. Genevieve, to St. Louis Public Radio. "It's just a tragedy for our community." The group plans a vigil for Cruz-Silva outside the detention center on Sunday evening.
His death comes amid renewed scrutiny of deaths in immigration detention. Earlier this week, ICE confirmed that 43-year-old Chinese national Huabing Xie died after suffering a seizure at the Imperial Regional Detention Facility in California.
Advocacy groups have accused the agency of inadequate medical oversight and a lack of transparency following at least 17 deaths in custody during 2025.
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