Cuban man who lived in the US for 60 years dies in ICE detention in Miami
Published in News & Features
MIAMI — A 75-year-old Cuban man who arrived in the United States nearly six decades ago died Thursday after three weeks in immigration detention in Miami.
Isidro Perez is the fifth person to die in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody in Florida this year. Half of all deaths since January in the agency’s custody nationwide have been in Florida.
Perez arrived in the U.S. in 1966, according to ICE’s press release announcing his death. On June 5, ICE arrested him “during a law enforcement action in Key Largo,” though the agency did not release details about the operation. His cause of death is under investigation. Perez was being held at the Krome Detention Center in southwest Miami-Dade County.
“ICE remains committed to ensuring that all those in its custody reside in safe, secure, and humane environments,” the press release on Perez’s death said. “At no time during detention is a detained illegal alien denied emergent care.”
Medical examiners ruled two deaths in January and February to be from natural causes, but a Miami Herald investigation found evidence of substandard or delayed medical care. Reporters requested autopsies and medical reports for the other three deaths but have yet to receive them.
The day after his arrest, during a standard medical intake, Perez was diagnosed with several health issues. On June 17, he was admitted to Larkin Community Hospital with “unstable angina” — reduced blood flow to the heart that causes chest pain. The condition can lead to a heart attack.
He was discharged from the hospital Wednesday, but reported chest pains the next day around 7 p.m. while at Krome’s medical unit. After rescue units began treatment, Perez was taken to Florida Kendall Hospital. He died shortly after 9 p.m. on Thursday at the medical facility.
Perez had two federal convictions for possessions of a controlled substance from the early 1980s, according to the government statement. The government press release announcing his death did not mention any other arrest records. It noted he had been detained because he was deemed ineligible to stay in the United States. Criminal convictions can make immigrants inadmissible to remain in the country.
Perez’s death comes only days after Johnny Noviello, a 49-year-old Canadian man, was found unresponsive at the federal detention center in downtown Miami. The Trump administration has been holding ICE detainees at the facility for federal inmates since February as part of an agreement with the U.S. Bureau of Prisons.
Across the country, 10 people have died in ICE custody since January. In Florida, three had been detained at the Krome Detention Center, one at the Broward Transitional Center and one at the federal detention center in downtown Miami.
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