Family asks court to block deportations after Cuban detainee's death in ICE custody

The family of Geraldo Lunas Campos asked a federal court to halt the deportations of two detainees after alleging that Mr. Lunas Campos, a Cuban immigrant, was killed by guards while in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody at Camp East Montana in El Paso. In a legal filing, the family said one fellow detainee, identified as Santos Jesus Flores, witnessed guards choking Mr.

Lunas Campos and heard him repeatedly say in Spanish that he could not breathe, and that another detainee, Antonio Ascon Frometa, saw him struggle with guards. Both witnesses have been given deportation notices, the filing says, and the children of Mr. Lunas Campos said they want the men available to provide testimony for a planned wrongful-death suit.

Federal officials have provided a different account. ICE initially said on Jan. 9 that Mr. Lunas Campos died after experiencing medical distress, and a Department of Homeland Security official later told The New York Times that he died by suicide, saying staff had tried to intervene and that Mr.

Lunas Campos stopped breathing during an ensuing struggle. The family also shared a recording in which a woman they said worked for the El Paso medical examiner's office said the preliminary cause would be listed as asphyxia due to neck and chest compression; The Times could not verify the recording and the medical examiner said an autopsy report was pending and declined to comment.

Key Topics

Politics, Geraldo Lunas Campos, Camp East Montana, Santos Jesus Flores, Antonio Ascon Frometa