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A 29-year-old Mexican man who was diagnosed with leukemia after becoming ill while in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody in Georgia has died, according to his family and human rights advocates.
Prisciliano Trejo Ricano died on July 22 after spending about three weeks in federal immigration custody, his family said. He was released from ICE custody on July 16 “with an order of recognizance,” a DHS Spokesperson told Newsweek in an email Friday.
DHS said Trejo Ricano was charged with a DWI and hit-and-run, which the Durham County Sheriff’s Department confirmed to Newsweek as well. The department said he was first arrested by local officers in the early morning of June 19 “on charges of DWI, hit-and-run, leaving the scene with property damage, no operator’s license, and driving the wrong way.” The office noted he had an immigration detainer and was later transferred to ICE agents on June 25.
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“My family is shattered,” his father, Prisciliano Trejo Ricano Sr., told Newsweek in Spanish during a phone interview. “The people who are inside [the detention center] don’t care, they see them [detainees] as animals."
Ryan Gustin, senior director of public affairs at CoreCivic, who oversees the Stewart Detention Center (SDC) where Trejo Ricano was held, told Newsweek the group is “deeply saddened by and take very seriously the passing of any individual who has been in our care,” adding that the safety and well-being of detainees is their “top priority.”
Trejo Ricano's death has renewed scrutiny of medical care in ICE detention facilities and whether detainees with serious illnesses receive adequate treatment. ICE has faced a litany of allegations from detainees over inadequate medical care in detention facilities.
The Trump administration has ramped up immigration enforcement efforts as it seeks to carry out what President Donald Trump has described as the largest deportation operation in U.S. history. In June, federal immigration agents arrested more than 43,000 people, according to ICE data.
At least 55 individuals have died in ICE custody under the second Trump administration, including 22 this year, according to a Newsweek analysis of detainee death notifications.
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Who Was Prisciliano Trejo Ricano?
Trejo Ricano was born in Mexico and was brought to the United States when he was 3 years old, his father told Newsweek. He completed high school in the U.S. and worked for a welding company. His father said he has previously been enrolled in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, known as DACA, but did not renew his status last year.
The DACA program, established by the Obama administration in 2012, provides temporary protection from deportation and work authorization for certain undocumented immigrants who arrived in the United States as children. The program does not provide a pathway to permanent residency or citizenship, and participants must periodically renew their status.
Trejo Ricano was arrested on June 19 in North Carolina on DWI and other charges, and a Durham County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson confirmed to Newsweek he was released on the morning of June 25 to immigration officials.
A DHS spokesperson described Trejo Ricano as a “criminal alien,” and noted he was arrested by ICE officers on June 25 and was admitted to Stewart Detention Center, a sprawling immigration detention center that holds around 1,700 people in Lumpkin, Georgia, and is operated by CoreCivic, on June 27.
In some cases, people are first arrested by local law enforcement agencies before being transferred to federal immigration authorities for detention or removal proceedings. His father said Trejo Ricano was drinking on the day of his arrest, and noted that ICE was at the local jail where Ricano was held.
Trejo Ricano Sr. described his son as a joyful person who enjoyed joking with family members and working alongside his brother. "He was a cheerful boy," his father said. "He always played jokes on his mother."
A GoFundMe set up by his cousin on his behalf described Trejo Ricano as “a confident, funny, and outgoing person.”
He worked at a welding company, his father said, and maintained an active lifestyle, going to the gym at least twice a week. Trejo Ricano is survived by a brother and two sisters, according to his father.
The Carolina Migrant Network held a vigil for Trejo Ricano in Charlotte, North Carolina, on July 24.
The Illness That Led to His Death
Trejo Ricano Sr. said his son first began experiencing health symptoms around July 6 or July 7, noting that Trejo Ricano began coughing up blood and had blood in his saliva while detained at Stewart Detention Center.
A GoFundMe set up by his cousin on his behalf said Trejo Ricano had a “bruise that would not heal,” while in detention.
Trejo Ricano repeatedly told family members on calls from the detention center that he was seeking medical attention while in ICE custody, his father said.
"Every day I asked him" whether he had requested help, his father said. "Every day he told me the same thing, that no one attends to him." His father alleged that detainees at the facility were not receiving adequate attention from staff, which DHS denied, telling Newsweek, "Claims that he did not receive medical care while in custody are FALSE. He received medical screening when he was admitted to Stewart Detention Center on June 27. He also received medical care on July 10 when he complained of a cough and sore throat.”
The spokesperson added that Trejo Ricano “tested negative for strep and received QC Mucus Relief Sinus for his cough” on July 10. Three days later, he was treated “with a saline IV, Amoxicillin, Ibuprofen, and Tylenol.”
Gustin of CoreCivic told Newsweek that once medical concerns were brought up, the staff promptly handled it, saying, "Facility medical staff immediately addressed the medical concerns once they were presented,” adding “It's important to note that any medical diagnosis was made outside of our care by hospital providers."
He added that SDC provides "high-quality healthcare, available 24/7, to the individuals in our care" and that detainees have daily access to request medical services, including mental health care. Attorneys representing detainees have described clients experiencing long delays in receiving medical treatment and, in some cases, developing or worsening health conditions while in ICE custody. Hundreds of detainees have brought federal lawsuits on the matter.
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Trejo Ricano was diagnosed with acute leukemia on July 13 after being transferred to a hospital, according to his father. A DHS spokesperson said he was admitted to the emergency room on July 14.
"The doctors diagnosed him with blood leukemia, but I don't know when that disease developed in his body, because weeks before all this happened, he was perfectly fine," his father Trejo Ricano Sr. said.
"He was speaking well, walking well. In fact, he was working at a welding company, and he went to the gym twice a week."
Trejo Ricano Sr. said that by the time his son was transferred to a hospital, his condition had significantly deteriorated.
"He could no longer speak well," he said. When the family arrived at the hospital, "he already had tubes in his mouth, hoses everywhere. He was no longer speaking."
The father said doctors informed the family that his son had leukemia but that he did not receive additional information about how the illness progressed. He died on July 22.
“It is a longstanding practice to provide comprehensive medical care from the moment an alien enters ICE custody. This includes medical, dental, and mental health services as available, and access to medical appointments and 24-hour emergency care. This is the best healthcare than many aliens have received in their entire lives,” a DHS spokesperson said.
Leukemia Diagnosis
Leukemia is a cancer of the blood that occurs when the DNA of a cell mutates, and abnormal blood cells grow uncontrollably. Acute leukemia develops when these abnormal cells multiply rapidly, causing the disease to progress quickly, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
“If you have acute leukemia, you’ll feel sick within weeks of the leukemia cells forming. Acute leukemia is life-threatening and requires immediate initiation of therapy,” the Cleveland Clinic says.
There are two types of acute leukemia: lymphocytic and myelogenous. It is not clear which diagnosis Trejo Ricano received; however, lymphocytic leukemia has a 73 percent 5-year relative survival rate, while myelogenous leukemia has a 33 percent 5-year relative survival rate, according to the National Cancer Institute.
Some leukemia symptoms include fatigue, shortness of breath, bone and joint pain, swollen lymph nodes, bruising, and bleeding easily, among others. Treatment for the cancer can include chemotherapy, immunotherapy, radiation, cell transplants, and T-cell therapy.
ICE-Related Deaths
Trejo Ricano’s death is the latest in a series of deaths involving people held in ICE custody, drawing renewed attention to healthcare standards and conditions in detention facilities. Trejo Ricano was released from ICE custody to his family days before his death.
"The safety and wellbeing of the individuals entrusted to us are our top priority," Gustin told Newsweek.
While declining to discuss specific details due to medical privacy laws, Gustin said that Trejo Ricano, "along with every detainee who enters SDC, was appropriately screened upon intake by our facility medical staff and no medical issues were provided or identified."
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Deaths in ICE custody have increased under Trump's administration, with 33 recorded deaths in 2025, the highest total since 2003. The increase has coincided with a surge of immigration arrests. ICE held 65,765 people in detention as of July 11, 2026, according to data compiled by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC).
The Trump administration announced on June 4 that ICE will no longer be required to publicly report deaths of individuals who die after being released from custody. Under the revised policy, ICE's formal death notification and review process will apply only to deaths that occur while a person remains in detention.
Several individuals have died after leaving immigration custody, including Costa Rican national Randal Alberto Gamboa-Esquivel, 52, who died last October, weeks after U.S. authorities deported him from Texas to Costa Rica aboard an air ambulance while he was critically ill. According to his wife, Adriana Ureña Cordero, doctors in Costa Rica later determined he had suffered brain damage and raised concerns about medications administered during his detention and hospitalization in the United States. She told Newsweek that Gamboa-Esquivel was largely unresponsive by the time he arrived in Costa Rica and never recovered. Costa Rican authorities are investigating the circumstances surrounding his death.
In another case, Nurul Amin Shah Alam, a 56-year-old Rohingya refugee from Myanmar who was nearly blind, was found dead in downtown Buffalo less than a week after being released from federal custody. According to Investigative Post, Alam was reported missing after U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents took custody of him following his release on bail from the Erie County Holding Center. A medical examiner later ruled his death a homicide. A CBP spokesperson rejected suggestions that the agency was responsible.
The death of Daphy Michel, a 31-year-old Haitian asylum seeker, was ruled a homicide by a Pennsylvania medical examiner after she died of hypothermia days following her release from ICE custody in February. The examiner's office said Michel was “suffering from untreated severe mental health issues and faced a significant language barrier” when she was released. DHS has denied that ICE was responsible for her death
Several immigrant-rights organizations issued a joint statement following Trejo Ricano's death, criticizing ICE detention practices and the conditions at Stewart.
Setareh Ghandehari, Advocacy Director at Detention Watch Network, said in a press release, “We are deeply saddened and equally enraged by the loss of life at the hands of ICE. ICE kills people and threatens community safety across the country. No one is safe when ICE is present – whether on the streets or in one of the agency’s more than 200 abuse-ridden detention facilities."
DHS says officers are enforcing immigration laws that they say were not adequately enforced under the previous administration, and are prioritizing the removal of those they have repeatedly described as the “worst of the worst.” Newsweek has reported on several cases in which green card holders and valid visa holders were detained over decades-old misdemeanor convictions as well as those with prior serious criminal convictions.
Amilcar Valencia, executive director of El Refugio, described Stewart as "one of the deadliest detention centers in the country" and called for an independent investigation into Trejo Ricano’s death. A senior staff attorney at Project South, Priyanka Bhatt, renewed the group’s call for the closure of the Stewart facility, saying Trejo Ricano should not have been “caged in an over-crowded deadly ICE prison plagued with human rights violations and medical neglect.”
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Gustin, of CoreCivic, told Newsweek, "ICE's Health Services Corps (IHSC) conducted a site audit of SDC's health services last month and found no deficiencies."
In addition to deaths that have raised questions about medical care in detention facilities, there have been several fatal shootings involving federal immigration agents under the Trump administration's mass deportation agenda.
Earlier this month, ICE agents were involved the fatal shootings of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo and Juan Jairo Coronilla Durán in Texas and Maine. Another man died after falling while fleeing federal immigration agents during an enforcement operation in Florida.
At least four U.S. citizens have been fatally shot by immigration officers since Trump returned to the White House, including Renee Nicole Good, Alex Pretti, Ruben Ray Martinez, and Keith Porter Jr., who was shot by an off-duty ICE officer.
What Happens Next
The circumstances surrounding Trejo Ricano's illness, treatment and death remain under the microscope as his family seeks additional records and information about the care he received while in custody. His father said the family is exploring legal options and hopes to obtain answers about what happened during his final weeks.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story:Ben Kelly and Gray R. Thomas
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