Another Migrant Dies Under ICE Custody After Experiencing 'Seizures, Vomiting, And Unresponsiveness'

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A Vietnamese migrant died under Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody after experiencing "seizures, vomiting, and unresponsiveness," according to a new report.

NBC News detailed that Tien Xuan Phan had been in custody at an ICE center in Texas for seven weeks before dying. The cause of death was not clarified and is now under investigation. The agency routinely publishes results 90 days after the episodes.

The outlet added that Phan was ordered to be removed from the U.S. by an immigration judge in 2012 but he "failed to leave," according to an ICE official. He was arrested in early June and had been under custody at the ICE Processing Center in Karnes County.

ICE has reported eight deaths so far this year. There were 12 deaths under agency custody last year. Another report from early July detailed that, since the beginning of the fiscal year, 11 people have died in ICE custody, as indicated by data and press releases released by the agency.

However, according to former Immigration Detention Ombudsman Michelle Brané, who worked to provide objective data regarding federal immigration detentions, the number "could be much higher." "People's lives are at risk," she told the outlet.

Genry Ruiz Guillén, 29, from Honduras, died on January 23 at the Krome North Processing Center in Florida. He was suffering from rhabdomyolysis, a potentially fatal condition that leads to muscle breakdown and kidney failure. Doctors say timely medical intervention could have saved him.

Just six days later, on January 29, Serawit Gezahegn Dejene, a 45-year-old asylum seeker from Ethiopia, died in ICE custody in Arizona. His cause of death remains publicly undisclosed.

Maksym Chernyak, a Ukrainian man, became the second person to die at Krome within a month. He was pronounced dead on February 20 after being detained while seeking refuge from the ongoing war in his home country.

Then, in Puerto Rico, Juan Alexis Tineo-Martínez, a 44-year-old Dominican man, died just three days later, on February 23. He had been picked up after a maritime interdiction and transferred to ICE custody. He deteriorated quickly. His family still hasn't received full records of his care.

In March, Brayan Rayo-Garzón, 27, a Colombian national, hanged himself in a Missouri jail contracted by ICE. His death reignited concerns about the system's failure to offer adequate mental health services to detainees—especially those held in prolonged, isolated confinement.

Nhon Ngoc Nguyen, a 55-year-old Vietnamese man, died in a Louisiana facility on April 16. ICE labeled the death as due to "natural causes," a term often questioned by independent pathologists when used in detention cases with limited oversight or care history.

And on April 25, Marie Ange Blaise, a 44-year-old Haitian woman, died at the Broward Transitional Center in Florida after complaining of chest pain. Advocates say her death mirrors other cases where migrant women's symptoms were dismissed or downplayed.