A Texas medical examiner reportedly plans to classify the recent death of Geraldo Lunas Campos, who was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement last summer, as a homicide, marking the latest apparent violation at the hands of an agency that has been illegally rampaging through American communities at the behest of President Donald Trump.
as The Washington Post I mentioned On Friday, “an employee of the El Paso County Medical Examiner’s Office told Lunas Campos’ daughter this week that, based on the findings of the toxicology report, the office would likely classify the death as a homicide, according to a recording of the conversation.”
The newspaper added, “The employee said that one of the doctors there listed the primary cause of death as suffocation due to pressure on the neck and chest, which means that Lunas Campos did not get enough oxygen due to the pressure on his neck and chest.”
In an interview with mailOne detainee at the sprawling El Paso detention center known as Camp East Montana said he witnessed “at least five guards fighting with Lunas Campos after he refused to enter the segregation unit and complained that he was not getting his medication.”
According to an eyewitness mail“He said he saw the guards suffocate Lunas Campos and heard Lunas Campos repeatedly repeat, ‘I can’t breathe’ — which is Spanish for ‘I can’t breathe.’ Medical staff tried to resuscitate him for an hour, after which they took away his body.”
Janet Pagan Lopez, mother of two of Lunas Campos’ children, told The New York Times mail That she had been contacted by FBI agents who said they were investigating the death of Lunas Campos.
“I know it’s murder,” Lopez told the newspaper. “The people who caused him physical harm must be held accountable.”
US Representative Nanette Barragán (D-CA), co-chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, books In response to mailIt states that “Geraldo Lunas Campos may have been murdered.”
“Very annoying,” Barragán added. “Republican overfunding of ICE and DHS, combined with Trump’s pardons and claims of absolute immunity, is literally killing people. Republicans are either silent or publicly agreeing to do so.”
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, which has relentlessly lied about recent killings and other incidents involving ICE, claimed in a statement that Lunas Campos died after attempting suicide.
“Campos violently resisted security personnel and continued to attempt suicide,” said Tricia McLaughlin, Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security. “During the ensuing struggle, Campos stopped breathing and lost consciousness. Medical personnel were immediately called and responded. After repeated attempts to resuscitate him, EMTs pronounced him dead at the scene.”
Lunas Campos, a 55-year-old Cuban immigrant, was arrested last summer and died on January 3. Quoting court records, mail “Lunas Campos was convicted of several crimes, including aggravated assault with a weapon and, in 2003, first-degree sexual assault of a child under 11 years old,” he noted.
“Be prepared for the Trump administration to highlight this man’s long criminal record to eliminate any sympathy for him, even though none of that excuses him being choked to death by guards at a detention center.” He said Aaron Reichlin-Melnyk, senior fellow at the American Immigration Council.
Lunas Campos is One of four people to die in ICE custody yet in 2026.
“Ace kills – full stop,” Satara Gandhihari, Advocacy Director at the Detention Watch Network, said:. “Whether ICE is targeting people on the streets, where they work or live, or behind closed doors in one of the nearly 200 abused detention centers across the country, ICE is an inherently violent agency that puts families and community safety at risk.”
Camp East Montana, where Lunas Campos was reported to have been killed, is a huge temporary camp on the Fort Bliss military base in El Paso, Texas.
Last month, the American Civil Liberties Union and other human rights groups student Immediately close the immigration detention center, citing “accounts of horrific conditions, including beatings and sexual assault by officers against detained immigrants, beatings and forced threats of forced deportation to third countries, medical neglect, hunger and insufficient food, and denial of meaningful access to lawyers, among other human rights violations.”
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