Two Migrants Die in ICE Custody in Florida Amid Alarming Pattern of Negligent Care - Report

Two recent migrant deaths in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody in Florida have raised serious concerns about the quality of medical care in immigration detention centers.

A detailed investigation by the Miami Herald found that both men — a Ukrainian refugee and a Honduran national — died under conditions that medical experts described as preventable and indicative of systemic neglect.

The Herald obtained over 150 pages of medical, autopsy, and toxicology reports related to the deaths of Maksym Chernyak, 44, and Genry Ruiz-Guillen, 29. Chernyak, who had survived Russia's invasion of Ukraine and evacuated women and children from Kyiv, suffered a massive stroke at the Krome North Service Processing Center in Miami-Dade. Staff took more than 40 minutes to call 911, despite him having multiple seizures and displaying unresponsiveness. He was later diagnosed with irreversible brain damage and died on February 20.

"In neurology, we have a saying: 'time is brain,' meaning that every minute a stroke is not treated is brain tissue lost or damaged," said Dr. Altaf Saadi, a neurologist at Massachusetts General Hospital and associate professor at Harvard University, who reviewed Chernyak's case.

Just a month earlier, Ruiz-Guillen died after weeks of seizures and confusion while in the same facility. His autopsy listed "complications of schizoaffective disorder" as the cause of death, a conclusion contested by multiple physicians, including renowned forensic pathologist Dr. Michael Baden. Toxicology reports showed a cocktail of antipsychotic medications and a condition known as rhabdomyolysis — a dangerous breakdown of muscle tissue that experts say can be linked to excessive restraint or drug reactions.

These two deaths are part of a broader trend. According to ICE, there have been four deaths in immigration custody in Florida between December 2024 and April 2025, representing half of all ICE detainee deaths nationwide so far in the 2025 fiscal year. The other two deaths include Marie Ange Blaise, 44, a Haitian woman who died on April 25 at the Broward Transitional Center, and Ramesh Amechand, 60, a Guyanese man who passed away in December 2024.

Despite repeated requests, ICE has yet to release full mortality reviews or surveillance footage related to the incidents. The agency maintains that all detainees receive timely medical screening and emergency care, a claim contradicted by expert assessments and internal medical logs reviewed by the Herald.