A 45-year-old Venezuelan man died Monday while being transported between immigration detention facilities in Georgia, marking the 22nd death in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody this year.
Jesús Manuel Arenas-Silva collapsed on a transport bus while being moved from the Irwin County Detention Center to the Folkston ICE Processing Center. He was found unresponsive and pronounced dead at a local hospital after staff called for emergency assistance. ICE attributed the death to suspected cardiac arrest.
Arenas-Silva's family and immigrant advocacy groups allege he was denied critical medications while detained, despite repeated requests. His sister said that when ICE agents arrested him at his Dallas, Georgia home last Thursday, they initially refused to let him bring his prescribed medications, later allowing only one of several needed medications. During his detention, he called his sister to report that he was not receiving the medications he required.
"I am 100% certain that he did not receive proper care," his sister stated. "I deeply mourn his passing in such a cruel manner; that is why I will seek justice for him and for everyone else who goes through this, so that other families do not have to endure what we are going through."
Arenas-Silva had entered the United States in 2021 and was encountered by border patrol in California shortly after. An immigration judge in Atlanta ordered his removal to Venezuela in April. ICE arrested him during what the agency called a targeted enforcement action last week.
The death comes as federal immigration enforcement has intensified considerably. Two people were shot and killed by ICE officials in separate incidents in Texas and Maine within the same week, and a third man died after being struck by a semi-truck while attempting to flee immigration officers.
The Irwin County Detention Center, where Arenas-Silva was held, has a troubled history. ICE's contract with the privately operated facility was terminated in 2021 following a nurse's whistleblower complaint about medical abuse. The facility gained notoriety in 2020 when a Senate subcommittee investigation found that women detainees had been subjected to what the report described as "excessive, invasive, and often unnecessary gynecological procedures." The facility resumed detaining immigrants last year.
Azadeh Shahshahani, legal and advocacy director for Project South, a Georgia-based civil rights organization, condemned both the detention and the circumstances surrounding Arenas-Silva's death. "ICE's callous disregard towards the humanity of Jesus Manuel Arenas-Silva, not even allowing him to take along his essential medication, is abominable," Shahshahani said.
The fatality reflects a sharp increase in deaths across the immigration detention system. Since January 2025, ICE has reported 33 detainee deaths, the highest total in more than two decades. The uptick follows a significant expansion of detention capacity and operations after the second Trump administration took office.
Arenas-Silva's family is demanding an independent investigation into his death. The fatality has drawn attention from federal lawmakers, including congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, who called for continued accountability and an end to for-profit detention centers.
International human rights officials have also raised alarms. In late June, Volker Türk, the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, expressed concern about deaths in U.S. government immigration custody and called for independent and impartial investigations.
Author James Rodriguez: "A man dies in custody after being denied his medications, and ICE calls it cardiac arrest; the pattern here isn't medical tragedy, it's systemic negligence that demands accountability."
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