Cuban immigrant dies in ICE custody in Georgia

A Cuban immigrant died in US Immigration Service (ICE) custody in Georgia in what authorities suspect was a suicide, US officials said in a statement sent to lawmakers on Friday and reviewed by Reuters. Denny Adan Gonzalez, 33, was found unconscious in his cell at the Stewart Detention Center on April 28 and pronounced dead less than an hour later, ICE said in the statement. Republican President Donald Trump has been pushing to detain many more immigrants as part of his mass deportation effort. The number of people detained by ICE has increased from 40,000 when Trump took office in 2025 to 60,000, and detention is expected to expand further this year. Immigrant deaths in ICE custody reached a two-decade high last year and are on track to rise even further this year, with 18 deaths in the first four months of the year. ICE said Gonzalez entered the U.S. through a Texas port of entry in May 2019, but was deemed “inadmissible” and deported in January 2020. He illegally crossed the U.S.-Mexico border in 2022 and was released into the U.S. under a supervision order, ICE said. Gonzalez was arrested by the Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office in Charlotte for assault on a female and domestic violence, ICE said. He was detained by ICE and transferred to the Stewart Detention Center in January 2026, ICE said. Stewart, located in the rural town of Lumpkin, is operated by private prison company CoreCivic. Ryan Gustin, a spokesman for CoreCivic, said medical personnel arrived promptly and began life-saving measures once Gonzalez was found unconscious. “We are deeply saddened and take the passing of any individual in our care very seriously,” Gustin said. ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A massive Republican-backed spending package approved by Congress in 2025 gives ICE funding to expand detentions through September 2029. In budget documents released in April, ICE said it aims to detain an annual average of 99,000 immigrants in fiscal years 2026 and 2027. (Reporting by Ted Hesson in Washington; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama, Nia Williams and Andrea Ricci) Agents of ICE, the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, arrive at John F. Kennedy Airport, in New York, to help with security screening, on March 23, 2026. Ryan Murphy/ AP

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