By Trendsetter Tribune 
Victor Manuel Diaz, a 36-year-old Nicaraguan national taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Minneapolis, has died while being held at the Camp East Montana detention facility in El Paso, Texas.
ICE said Diaz was found unconscious and unresponsive in his room on January 14 and was pronounced dead later that afternoon. The agency described the death as a presumed suicide, though the official cause remains under investigation.
Diaz was arrested by ICE agents on January 6 after authorities determined he was living in the United States without legal status. He had entered the country in March 2024, was released on parole after receiving a notice to appear before an immigration judge, and was later ordered removed in absentia in August 2025. ICE said he was processed under a final order of removal on January 12, two days before his death.
Diaz’s death is the third reported fatality at Camp East Montana since the facility opened last year. Government records and advocacy groups show a broader increase in deaths across federal immigration detention centers as enforcement operations and detention populations expand.
Andrew Free, a lawyer and researcher who tracks fatalities in Department of Homeland Security custody, said he has documented 38 deaths in ICE detention since January 2025. Another detainee, 34-year-old Heber Sánchez Domínguez, also died on January 14 while in custody at a detention facility in Georgia, leaving behind a wife and two children.
The Department of Homeland Security maintains that detainees receive comprehensive medical, dental, and mental health care throughout their time in custody. However, elected officials have raised concerns about conditions at Camp East Montana and other facilities, calling for independent investigations into the recent deaths.
As scrutiny of immigration detention intensifies, the death of Victor Manuel Diaz has added to growing questions about oversight, safety, and accountability within ICE-operated and privately run detention centers.