ICE deported Francisco Gaspar-Andres's wife before he died and waited six days to notify Congress — first death at Camp East Montana
Francisco Gaspar-Andres, a 48-year-old Guatemalan national, died on December 3, 2025 at a hospital in El Paso after months of declining health while detained at Camp East Montana, ICE's tent-camp facility at Fort Bliss — the first confirmed death at that facility. He had been arrested in Florida in September 2025 and transferred to the camp, where detention medical staff treated him before he was hospitalized in November; medical staff attributed his death to complications of alcoholic hepatic cirrhosis. His wife, who was detained alongside him, was deported before being allowed to see him, and ICE did not notify Congress until six days after he died.
Part of: 2025–2026 ICE Detainee Death Surge
Actors
- U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
- Camp East Montana detention facility, Fort Bliss
Francisco Gaspar-Andres, a 48-year-old Guatemalan national, became the first detainee to die at Camp East Montana, the tent-camp detention facility ICE erected at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas. Gaspar-Andres was arrested in Florida on September 1, 2025 and transferred to Camp East Montana on September 19. Detention medical staff treated him in late September and October as his health deteriorated; he was hospitalized on November 16, and died on December 3 at the Hospitals of Providence East. Medical staff attributed the cause to natural liver and kidney failure — later specified as complications of alcoholic hepatic cirrhosis.
His wife, who had been detained alongside him at the same facility, was deported to Guatemala without being allowed to visit him before he died. ICE did not notify Congress of his death until December 9, six days after he died. Camp East Montana had already drawn scrutiny for safety and waste concerns; the GAO separately found the facility had wasted up to $11.5 million and placed detainees at risk. Gaspar-Andres was the 25th person to die in ICE custody during the 2025 fiscal year.
Why we recorded this
The Constitution and federal detention standards require the government to provide adequate medical care to people it incarcerates. Francisco Gaspar-Andres died of end-stage liver and kidney failure after spending months in a hastily built tent camp at Fort Bliss with documented medical needs and no adequate treatment pathway. His wife, detained alongside him, was deported before she could see him. ICE notified Congress six days after his death. We record deaths in ICE custody because they test whether detention conditions meet the legal and moral floor the government owes to people in its care — and because Camp East Montana, flagged separately for waste and safety failures, became the site of this first confirmed death.
Sources
- Guatemalan under ICE custody in El Paso at Camp East Montana dies — El Paso Matters primary accessed June 18, 2026
- Third immigrant detainee at facility in El Paso has died, ICE says — NBC News secondary accessed June 18, 2026
- Guatemalan becomes 25th immigrant to die in federal custody this year — AOL/AP secondary accessed June 18, 2026
See also
- Lawmakers demand investigation after Nenko Gantchev found unresponsive and dies at newly expanded North Lake ICE facility
- Cuban ICE detainee dies under restraint at Camp East Montana; death ruled a homicide
- Family says Yanez-Cruz complained of chest pain for weeks before ICE transferred him to hospital where he died
- ICE routes Diaz autopsy to military hospital, bypassing ME who ruled prior Camp East Montana death a homicide
- José Guadalupe Ramos-Solano dies in ICE custody at GEO Group-run Adelanto facility