Migrant Detainee Commits Suicide In Pennsylvania Facility

A Chinese migrant committed suicide in a Pennsylvania detention center this week, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials said.

Chaofeng Ge, 32, was found hanging by the neck in the shower of his detention pod. He had left a handwritten note, but the content was not disclosed.

Staff who discovered Ge lowered him to the ground and began CPR, also calling emergency medical services, state police and the coroner's office, the agency added.

Ge had been in ICE custody for five days and was waiting a hearing regarding his case. He had been arrested in January after being reported by a CVS for fraudulently using a credit card to buy gift cards, ABC News detailed.

"An investigation was initiated, where Ge was found to be in possession of numerous stolen credit card numbers located within his cell phone," police said. Ge, who pleaded guilty to charges related to the crime, was sentenced to prison and granted immediate release to the ICE detainer.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) acknowledged the death. "This morning, one detainee passed away at the Moshannon Valley Processing Center. All in-custody deaths are tragic, taken seriously, and are thoroughly investigated by law enforcement," an official said in a statement.

"ICE takes its commitment to promoting safe, secure, humane environments for those in our custody very seriously," the official added.

The death took place just weeks after a Vietnamese migrant passed away under ICE custody after experiencing "seizures, vomiting, and unresponsiveness."

NBC News detailed in late July 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.

ICE had reported eight deaths so far this year by then. 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.