SAN DIEGO, CMC – The California-based Haitian Bridge Alliance (HBA) on Tuesday expressed outrage over what it described as the “escalating” death of immigrants in the custody of the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency.
HBA Executive Officer, Guerline Jozef, noted the recent death of 19-year-old Mexican migrant, Royer Perez-Jimenez, after he had been held in a Florida facility.
ICE reported that Perez-Jimenez was “a criminal illegal alien from Mexico who was arrested and charged with misdemeanor fraud for impersonation and resisting an officer.”
ICE said he passed away on March 16 at the Glades County Detention Center in Moore Haven, Florida.
“He died of a presumed suicide; however, the official cause of his death remains under investigation,” ICE said, stating that Perez was evaluated by medical staff.
“He denied any behavioural health issues or concerns and answered ‘no’ to all suicide screening questions,” ICE said.
But Jozef told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) that Perez-Jimenez’s death marks “yet another life lost inside a system increasingly defined by secrecy, neglect, and a lack of accountability.
“This tragedy occurred just days after the death of Mohammad Nazeer Paktiawal, a 41-year-old Afghan asylum seeker who had worked with US forces and died shortly after being taken into ICE custody in Texas.
“For Haitian Bridge Alliance, this pattern is all too familiar,” said Jozef, adding that “the death of Emmanuel Damas, a Haitian national who died after being denied adequate medical care while detained, underscores that migrants continue to bear the brunt of this system’s failures.”
She said at least 32 people died in ICE detention in 2025, and that “the crisis appears to be continuing into this year.
“Multiple deaths have already been reported in the early months of 2026, including four migrants who died while in US immigration custody, in the first 10 days alone in 2026,” Jozef said.
“The United States is operating an immigration detention system where death has become predictable, and accountability remains absent. We cannot accept a system where migrants enter custody alive and leave in body bags.
“We continue to demand immediate, independent investigations into every death in ICE custody, full transparency, and an end to detention practices that strip people of dignity, care, and basic human rights.”
ICE said in a statement that Damas, 56, “a criminal illegal alien from Haiti currently facing criminal charges for assault and battery, died at HonorHealth Scottsdale Osborn Medical Center (SOMC), John C. Lincoln Medical Center (JLMC) while in ICE custody on March 2, 2026”.
But Jozef told CMC that Damas died “after reportedly suffering complications linked to an untreated tooth infection while detained at the Florence ICE facility, raising serious concerns about access to timely medical care for immigrants in government custody.
“Damas’ death is part of a deeply troubling pattern,” she said.
Earlier this month, the Haiti Caucus co-chairs in the United States House of Representatives demanded answers from the Trump administration about Damas’s death.
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