Eight people have died in dealings with ICE so far in 2026. These are their stories Melissa HellmannJanuary 28, 2026 at 9:00 PM 673 Demonstrators confront federal law enforcement agents in south Minneapolis, Minnesota, on 13 January.Photograph: Victor J Blue/B/Bloomberg via Getty Images" src=https://ift.tt/kim4eER datasrc=https://ift.tt/a3PWtRG.
- - Eight people have died in dealings with ICE so far in 2026. These are their stories
Melissa HellmannJanuary 28, 2026 at 9:00 PM
673
Demonstrators confront federal law enforcement agents in south Minneapolis, Minnesota, on 13 January.Photograph: Victor J Blue/B/Bloomberg via Getty Images" src=https://ift.tt/E08RV3H data-src=https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/VIWNPLkCt9jicskZhE4a3g--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyNDI7aD04Mjg-/https://media.zenfs.com/en/aol_the_guardian_702/d2e3a04ec1f6d70ce3d454910732a045>Demonstrators confront federal law enforcement agents in south Minneapolis, Minnesota, on 13 January.Photograph: Victor J Blue/B/Bloomberg via Getty Images (Photograph: Victor J Blue/B/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The killings of the 37-year-old Minneapolis residents Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good by federal agents have sparked protests and outrage throughout the nation. Pretti and Good are just two people out of at least eight who have either been killed by federal agents or who have died while in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody in 2026 so far.
The high-profile fatal shootings follow the deaths of at least 32 people in ICE custody in 2025 – the highest number since 2004. One of the people killed was Keith Porter Jr, a 43-year-old Black man who was fatally shot by an off-duty ICE agent outside of his Los Angeles apartment complex on the evening of 31 December 2025. The father of two was firing a gun into the air, a Los Angeles police department spokesperson said, before the off-duty ICE agent, Brian Palacios, went to investigate. Porter was pronounced dead at the scene when police officers responded.
These are the stories of the eight people who died this year.
Luis Gustavo Núñez Cáceres
On 5 January, Luis Gustavo Núñez Cáceres, a 42-year-old immigrant from Honduras, died in ICE custody at HCA Houston Healthcare in Conroe, Texas. He had been admitted into the Houston-area hospital for a heart-related condition, according to an ICE statement. Núñez was first arrested by ICE agents during an operation in Houston on 17 November and was eventually transferred to the Joe Corley processing center in Conroe. On New Year's Eve, ICE said, "he suffered multiple life-threatening medical emergencies, and HCA medical personnel moved him to the intensive care unit, where he remained until his death". The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in a statement to the Guardian: "We have maintained higher standard of care than most prisons that hold US citizens – including providing access to proper medical care." For many immigrants, the DHS said, "this is the best healthcare they have received their entire lives".
"My brother was a person full of life and hope, always fighting for his wellbeing and that of our family," Núñez's brother wrote in Spanish on a GoFundMe page requesting assistance in bringing his brother's body home. "Sadly, his life was cut short due to the lack of adequate medical care while he was in ICE custody."
Geraldo Lunas Campos
On 3 January, while in ICE custody, a Cuban immigrant died of homicide, according to a recent autopsy report. Geraldo Lunas Campos, a 55-year-old father of four, died at the ICE facility Camp East Montana in El Paso, Texas. In a 9 January statement, ICE said, "Lunas became disruptive while in line for medication and refused to return to his assigned dorm. He was subsequently placed in segregation." Medical personnel were called for assistance when they noticed him in distress, ICE claimed. The federal government later claimed that staff had been trying to save Lunas as he attempted suicide.
However, a witness told the that Lunas Campos was handcuffed and that he was put into a chokehold until he became unconscious. The El Paso county medical examiner's office autopsy report said that his body showed signs of damaged vessels on his neck and injury on his knees and chest, according to PBS.
Lunas Campos was originally arrested by immigration enforcement agents in Rochester, New York, in July, ICE said, and that he had been in the US for 30 years.
Víctor Manuel Díaz
A 36-year-old Nicaraguan immigrant, Víctor Manuel Díaz, also died at Camp East Montana in El Paso, Texas, on 14 January. In a statement following his death, ICE said that security staff found him "unconscious and unresponsive in his room". ICE said that Díaz's death was a "presumed suicide" but that his death remained under investigation.
"I don't believe he took his life," Díaz's brother Yorlan Díaz told ABC News. "He was not a criminal. He was looking for a better life and he wanted to help our mother."
Parady La
A Pennsylvania man, Parady La, died while in ICE custody at the Thomas Jefferson University hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on 9 January. The 46-year-old Cambodian immigrant was picked up near his Upper Darby home a few days before his death, his family told 6 ABC Action News. In a statement, ICE said that La was found unresponsive in the federal detention center in Philadelphia, where he was receiving treatment for drug withdrawal.
He was given Narcan and then taken to the hospital and diagnosed with organ failures, among other conditions. His family was notified on 8 January and visited him at the hospital, after they had spent days searching for him.
His daughter, Jazmine La, said that her father "was a real person and people loved him".
Renee Nicole Good
Minneapolis resident Renee Nicole Good was fatally shot by a federal agent in her car on 7 January. The 37-year-old mother of three was a poet and writer who had moved to Minneapolis from Kansas City, Missouri, last year.
The DHS secretary, Kristi Noem, said that the law enforcement agent who killed Good had responded to an "act of domestic terrorism".
Good studied creative writing at Old Dominion University in Virginia, where she won an Academy of American Poets prize in 2020.
Donna Ganger, her mother, told the Minnesota Star Tribune: "Renee was one of the kindest people I've ever known."
Luis Beltrán Yáñez–Cruz
On 6 January, Honduran immigrant Luis Beltrán Yáñez–Cruz died at the John F Kennedy memorial hospital in Indio, California, from heart-related issues, according to an ICE statement following his death. The father of three initially entered the US in 1993, according to ICE, was removed from the country, and re-entered at least 20 years ago. ICE arrested him in Newark, New Jersey, in November 2025.
According to ICE, Yáñez-Cruz was detained at Imperial regional detention facility in Calexico and was later transferred to the hospital for chest pain, where he died.
His daughter, Josselyn Yanez, told News Channel 3 that his heart-related issues began after he was detained. "My soul was destroyed," she said, "because I really hoped that my father would leave that place, but not in this way."
Heber Sánchez Domínguez
Heber Sánchez Domínguez, a 34-year-old from Mexico, died at the Robert A Deyton detention center in Lovejoy, Georgia, on 14 January. In a statement, ICE said that he was found unresponsive and that his death was under investigation. After being arrested in Georgia on 7 January for driving without a license, he was transferred to the Lovejoy detention center as he awaited removal proceedings. ICE said that the detention center staff found him hanging by his neck and transferred him to the Piedmont Henry medical center, where he was pronounced dead.
The Mexican consulate in Atlanta told CBS News that Mexican officials have asked that "the circumstances of the incident be clarified".
Alex Pretti
Alex Pretti, an intensive care unit nurse for a veterans affairs hospital, was fatally shot by federal agents during an anti-ICE protest in Minneapolis on 24 January. The 37-year-old Minneapolis resident was trying to help a woman who had been pushed to the ground by ICE agents when he was tackled, beaten, restrained and shot to death.
Following his death, the senior White House official Stephen Miller wrote on X: "A domestic terrorist tried to assassinate federal law enforcement …" Video evidence showed that Pretti, who was carrying a firearm around his waist, was holding only his phone in his hand and that he was disarmed before being shot.
Source: "AOL Breaking"
Source: Breaking
Published: January 28, 2026 at 01:54PM on Source: PRIME TIME
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