EL PASO (AP) — A Nicaraguan immigrant was found dead at a Texas migrant detention center last week, federal officials said.
Victor Manuel Diaz appears to have taken his own life on Wednesday in the sprawling tent city at the Fort Bill Army base in El Paso, according to a statement from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The federal investigation into his death remains ongoing.
It is the same facility where ICE reported another detainee died earlier this month while staff were trying to prevent a suicide. But another detainee said that as many as five officers were restraining the detainee in handcuffs and that at least one had an arm around his neck.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This story includes discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know needs help, the U.S. national suicide and crisis lifeline is available by calling or texting 988.
Diaz was detained on January 6 during a migrant enforcement sweep in Minnesota and was sent to Texas, ICE said.
The Nicaraguan entered the United States in March 2024 and was detained by Border Patrol. He was paroled pending a court date, and in August a judge ordered him to leave the United States at a hearing Diaz did not attend, according to ICE.
Diaz received a final deportation order on January 12, two days before he was found unconscious in his room, authorities said.
ICE did not disclose further details about Diaz’s death. The agency notifies Congress and posts a statement on its website about all deaths in custody.
Diaz, 36, was being held at Camp Montana East, where ICE said another detainee, Geraldo Lunas Campos, died while staff were trying to prevent his suicide.
But a preliminary investigation by the El Paso County medical examiner’s office determined that Lunas Campos, 55, died from chest and neck compression leading to asphyxia, and it noted the death would likely be classified as a homicide.
One detainee told The Associated Press that Lunas Campos was shackled and refusing to return to his cell when at least five guards restrained him on the floor. The detainee said at least one of the guards pressed an arm around his neck.
ICE said it is still investigating that death.
