The news of Ernesto Rocha-Cuadra's death in ICE custody on June 23rd, following cardiac arrest, has sent ripples of grief and outrage across the nation. It’s a story that, sadly, feels all too familiar, a somber echo of countless others who have perished while in the care of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Ernesto had been held at the Central Louisiana ICE processing facility for over a year, a detention that continued even after an internal review panel had approved his release months before his passing.
As Ernesto's family in California grapples with their profound loss and seeks answers, advocates in Louisiana are mobilizing, aiming to amplify his story and demand an end to the practice of immigrant detention altogether. In solidarity, Georgia immigrant rights groups, spearheaded by Community EsTr(El/La), are holding a rally today at the Atlanta ICE Field Office. This isn't just about one man's tragic end; it's about a systemic issue that has been documented for years.
For more than a decade, survivors and their allies have been sounding the alarm, detailing horrific accounts of medical neglect, COVID-19 negligence, legal roadblocks, denial of due process, solitary confinement, excessive force, and even sexual assault within ICE facilities. Despite the existence of oversight bodies like the DHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) and the Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL), meaningful action has been frustratingly slow, with complaints often going unanswered or leading to insufficient remedies.
We saw this pattern unfold with the Irwin County Detention Center (ICDC) in Georgia. Following numerous complaints and Congressional inquiries about disturbing gynecological procedures performed on women there, ICE announced it would terminate its contract in May 2021. Yet, survivors and advocates are still awaiting a definitive response from the OIG. Even a U.S. Senate report in November 2022 confirmed what many already knew: immigrant women at ICDC were subjected to invasive and unnecessary gynecological procedures without proper consent.
Ernesto's name now joins a list of over 200 individuals who have died in ICE custody since 2003. It’s a chilling statistic, and the circumstances surrounding these deaths often feel eerily similar. A 2005 article about Richard Rust, who died in ICE custody in Louisiana, reads as if it were written today. More recently, Salvador Vargas died on April 4th at the Stewart Detention Center in Georgia, the eleventh person to die there since its opening. And today also marks the four-year anniversary of Pedro Arriago Santoya's death at the same facility. After his passing, ICE buried him in an unmarked grave near Atlanta, a stark reminder of the dehumanizing aspects of this system. Community members had to raise funds to give his grave a marker and hold a service.
In light of these tragedies, the undersigned organizations fully support the demands made by Ernesto's family and other advocates: an independent investigation into Ernesto's death and all premature deaths in immigrant detention; the safe release of witnesses and survivors of abuse from the Jena facility, specifically naming Daniel Cortes and Aamir Shaikh; the immediate closure of all eight detention centers in Mississippi and Louisiana, including the one in Jena; and a halt to contracts with for-profit private prison companies that are demonstrably failing and causing harm. The contract for the LaSalle Corrections-run ICE center in Winnfield, Louisiana, is up for renewal in May 2024, and advocates are urging the Biden Administration not to renew it.
Ernesto's death is a painful, yet critical, reminder that ICE detention centers, regardless of their location or the corporation managing them, are fundamentally unsafe. The call for abolition is not an overreaction; it's a necessary response to a system that continues to inflict harm and result in preventable deaths. Incremental changes, while perhaps well-intentioned, miss the core issue: the inherent danger and injustice of detaining human beings.
