A Venezuelan man with an AIDS diagnosis has died while in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody after being held at a prison where activists have raised concerns about the treatment of inmates.
Pablo Sánchez-Gotopo, 40, died October 1 at Merit Health River Oaks in Flowood, Miss., according to an ICE press release. “The preliminary cause of death was from complications with acute respiratory failure, acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), pneumonia, acute kidney failure, anemia, and COVID-19,” the release says.
He was tested twice for COVID with negative results, but after he began showing symptoms in late July, ICE transferred him to a hospital in Natchez.
Some trans women with the virus have died while in ICE custody.
Roxsana Hernández (previous reports spelled her first name as Roxana) died May 25 while in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. She had been held at the Cibola County Correctional Facility, a privately run prison in New Mexico, for several days before being transferred to a hospital. The official cause of death was complications of pneumonia and HIV, but civil rights groups have raised questions about how the 33-year-old Honduran was treated while in custody.
ICE contended that Hernández was not abused. “U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) cannot speak to the validity of the private autopsy cited by The Daily Beast; however, allegations that she was abused in ICE custody are false,” ICE spokeswoman Danielle Bennett told the publication. “A review of Hernandez’s death conducted by ICE Health Service Corps medical professionals confirmed that she suffered from a history of untreated HIV. At no time did the medical personnel treating Ms. Hernandez at Cibola General Hospital or Lovelace Medical Center raise any issues of suspected physical abuse.
Pablo Sánchez-Gotopo, 40, died October 1 at Merit Health River Oaks in Flowood, Miss., according to an ICE press release. “The preliminary cause of death was from complications with acute respiratory failure, acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), pneumonia, acute kidney failure, anemia, and COVID-19,” the release says.
He was tested twice for COVID with negative results, but after he began showing symptoms in late July, ICE transferred him to a hospital in Natchez.
Some trans women with the virus have died while in ICE custody.
Roxsana Hernández (previous reports spelled her first name as Roxana) died May 25 while in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. She had been held at the Cibola County Correctional Facility, a privately run prison in New Mexico, for several days before being transferred to a hospital. The official cause of death was complications of pneumonia and HIV, but civil rights groups have raised questions about how the 33-year-old Honduran was treated while in custody.
ICE contended that Hernández was not abused. “U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) cannot speak to the validity of the private autopsy cited by The Daily Beast; however, allegations that she was abused in ICE custody are false,” ICE spokeswoman Danielle Bennett told the publication. “A review of Hernandez’s death conducted by ICE Health Service Corps medical professionals confirmed that she suffered from a history of untreated HIV. At no time did the medical personnel treating Ms. Hernandez at Cibola General Hospital or Lovelace Medical Center raise any issues of suspected physical abuse.