Cuban Migrant's Death in US Custody Ruled Suicide
Posted: Wed Oct 16, 2019 6:46 pm
FILE - A member of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement team is pictured during an operation in San Jose, Calif., Sept. 25, 2019.
A Cuban man who had sought asylum in the United States has died while being held at an immigration jail in Louisiana.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials confirmed Wednesday that Roylan Hernandez Diaz, 43, had died at a private detention facility of an apparent suicide.
Hernandez Diaz applied for asylum at a border bridge in El Paso, Texas, in May. According to ICE, he was deemed "inadmissible'' by border agents and had been in detention since.
The Richwood Correctional Center near Monroe is one of eight Louisiana jails that now house mostly immigrants, including asylum-seekers.
Of the 15,000 immigrants being held by ICE across the country, 8,000 are in Louisiana, the Associated Press reported.
Hernandez Diaz was the second person to die in ICE custody this month. Nebane Abienwi, 37, of Cameroon died of a brain hemorrhage at a detention facility in San Diego.