Medical Examiner Indicates ICE Detainee's Death Likely Homicide

"...The death and conflicting accounts have intensified scrutiny into the conditions of immigration jails at a time when the government has been rounding up immigrants in large numbers around the country and detaining them at facilities like the one in El Paso where Lunas Campos died...."

"...Flores is not represented by a lawyer and said he has already consented to deportation to his home country. Though he acknowledged he was taking a risk by speaking to the AP ... "in this place, guards abuse ... ."..."

"...The deaths of inmates and other detainees after officers hold them face down and put pressure on their backs and necks to restrain them have been a problem in law enforcement for decades...."

"...A 2024 AP investigation documented hundreds of deaths during police encounters in which people were restrained in a prone position...."

"...Many uttered "I can't breathe" before suffocating, according to scores of body camera and bystander videos...."

"...Authorities often attempt to shift the blame for such deaths to preexisting medical conditions or drug use...."

"...Dr. Victor Weedn, a forensic pathologist who has studied prone restraint deaths, said the preliminary autopsy ruling of homicide indicates guards' actions caused Lunas Campos' death, but does not mean they intended to kill...."

"...He said the medical examiner's office could come under pressure to stop short of calling it a homicide, but will probably "stick to its guns."..."

"..."This probably passes the 'but for' test. 'But for' the actions of the officers, he would not have died. For us, that's generally a homicide," he said...."

"...Pagan-Lopez declined and is now seeking help from family and friends to raise the money needed to ship his body home and pay for a funeral...."

"...After failing to get details about the circumstances surrounding his death from ICE, Pagan-Lopez said she got a call from a detainee at Camp Montana East who then put her in touch with Flores, who first told her about the altercation with guards...."

"...Since then, she said she has repeatedly called ICE, but is no longer getting a response...."

"...Pagan-Lopez, who is a U.S. citizen, said she also twice called the FBI, where an agent took her information and then hung up...."

"...Pagan-Lopez said she and Lunas Campos were together about 15 years before breaking up eight years ago...."

"...She described him as an attentive father who, until his detention, had worked in a minimum-wage job at a furniture store, the only employment she said he could find due to his criminal record...."

"...She said that in the family's last phone call the week after Christmas, Lunas Campos talked to his kids about his expected deportation back to Cuba...."

"...He said he wanted them to visit the island, so that he could stay in their lives...."

"..."He wasn't a bad guy," Pagan-Lopez said. "I just want justice, and his body here. That's all I want."..."