Cuban ICE detainee dies under restraint at Camp East Montana; death ruled a homicide

On January 3, 2026, Geraldo Lunas Campos, a 55-year-old Cuban man and father of four, died at Camp East Montana, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's tent detention camp on the Army's Fort Bliss base in El Paso, Texas. He had been held there since September 6, 2025, after being arrested by immigration officers in Rochester, New York, where he had lived for nearly two decades; an immigration judge had ordered him removed in 2005, but the government was never able to obtain travel documents. ICE said he had been placed in segregation after becoming disruptive in a medication line, and his autopsy noted a history of bipolar disorder and anxiety.

The El Paso County Medical Examiner ruled the death a homicide. "Based on the investigative and examination findings, it is my opinion that the cause of death is asphyxia due to neck and torso compression. The manner of death is homicide," the examiner concluded, noting that Lunas Campos "was witnessed to become unresponsive while being physically restrained by law enforcement," with abrasions on his body and hemorrhaging in the muscles and tissues of his neck. The official account shifted over time: ICE's January 9 press release said he had "experienced medical distress," while the Department of Homeland Security later told reporters he had attempted to take his own life and died during the "ensuing struggle" as staff intervened. DHS said the matter remains an active investigation; no one has been charged.

The death was the third at Camp East Montana, which had opened only months earlier and grown into the nation's largest immigration detention facility. It was first reported by The Washington Post and confirmed through the final autopsy report obtained by NBC News under a public-records request. This entry is recorded as a death in custody and a use of force by those who held him — the killing itself, distinct from the later class-action lawsuit over conditions at the same camp and from other deaths there — so that a homicide ruling against people the state detains out of public view is preserved as part of the record.

Updates

2026-02-20 — ICE revised its account to a "spontaneous use of force" during restraint [10]

ICE quietly updated its account of the death, telling reporters in an internal report that staff used "spontaneous use of force" to "prevent him from harming himself" — supplanting its earlier claims of "medical distress" and, later, a suicide-attempt struggle. The report described Lunas Campos as having a "complex medical and mental health history" and said he had received "regular" medical evaluations at Camp East Montana. A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson defended the report, saying Lunas Campos "violently resisted the security staff and continued to attempt to take his life."

2026-07-02 — Family filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against guards and detention contractors [8, 9]

In early July 2026, the family of Geraldo Lunas Campos filed a wrongful-death lawsuit over his January 2026 death, naming four Camp East Montana guards and the private contractors that operated the facility — Acquisition Logistics, Akima, and Akima's parent company NANA Regional Corporation — and seeking more than $1 million in damages. The suit alleges that guards shackled and restrained Lunas Campos and applied pressure to his neck and chest until his body went limp, and that the companies failed to train and supervise their staff or to properly treat his mental illness. It contradicts the Department of Homeland Security's account that he attempted suicide, citing witness detainees and the El Paso County Medical Examiner's homicide finding.

2026-07-03 — Investigative report finds systemic mental-health neglect preceded the death [5, 6, 7]

ProPublica and The Texas Tribune, drawing on a nearly 300-page unpublished El Paso County Medical Examiner investigative file, reported that Lunas Campos repeatedly sought treatment for serious mental illness after his September 2025 admission. Staff noted as early as October 8 that they were working to transfer him to a facility equipped to treat him but never did, and he was repeatedly placed in segregation despite detention standards directing staff to avoid segregating detainees with serious mental illness. The reporting characterizes the records as showing systemic neglect in the months before the altercation with guards in which he died.