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By Billal Rahman
Immigration Reporter
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The death of Geraldo Lunas Campos, a 55-year-old Cuban immigrant held at a Texas ICE detention facility, may be classified as a homicide, according to a county medical examiner employee who spoke with his family, The Washington Post reported.
Why It Matters
The Washington Post, reported that an employee of the El Paso County Office of the Medical Examiner told Lunas Campos’ daughter that, pending toxicology results, a doctor is listing the preliminary cause of death as asphyxia caused by neck and chest compression. In a recording shared with the newspaper, the employee said the manner of death is expected to be ruled a homicide, meaning the death was caused at least in part by the actions of another person.
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What To Know
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said Lunas Campos died after attempting to take his own life. The spokesperson said he “violently resisted” staff during an ensuing struggle, stopped breathing, and lost consciousness. Medical staff attempted resuscitation but he was pronounced dead at the scene, the agency said.
ICE announced on January 3 that Lunas Campos had died at Camp East Montana, a large tent-based detention facility in El Paso. In its initial statement, the agency said staff observed him “in distress” and that emergency medical personnel were unable to revive him. ICE did not provide a cause of death at that time.
The Washington Post reported that an internal ICE document and an eyewitness account indicate Lunas Campos died following a struggle with detention staff. Santos Jesus Flores, a detainee who said he was housed in the same segregation unit, told the newspaper that he saw multiple guards restraining Lunas Campos and heard him repeatedly say he could not breathe.
ICE has said Lunas Campos was placed in a segregated housing unit after becoming disruptive while waiting for medication. Later that day, staff observed him in distress, according to the agency’s statement. An internal ICE log reviewed by The Washington Post noted an “immediate” use-of-force incident but did not provide details.
DHS said Lunas Campos was arrested by immigration authorities on July 14, 2025, during a planned enforcement operation in Rochester, New York.
DHS said he entered the United States in 1996 and had been charged with or convicted of multiple crimes over several decades, including weapons offenses, theft, drug-related crimes, and a 2003 conviction involving sexual contact with a child under the age of 11.
The agency said an immigration judge ordered his removal in 2005, but he was not deported because the government was unable to obtain travel documents. He was transferred to Camp East Montana on September 6, 2025.
Lunas Campos was one of four people who died in ICE custody in the first nine days of 2026.
What People Are Saying
A DHS spokesperson told Newsweek: "Geraldo Lunas Campos, a criminal illegal alien and convicted child sex predator, attempted to take his own life while he was detained at the Camp East Montana detention facility. The security staff immediately intervened to save his life.
"Campos violently resisted the security staff and continued to attempt to take his life. During the ensuing struggle, Campos stopped breathing and lost consciousness. Medical staff was immediately called and responded. After repeated attempts to resuscitate him, EMTs declared him deceased on the scene."
The El Paso County medical examiner’s office told Newsweek: "The autopsy report is pending, and no preliminary information will be released."
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