ICE detainee dies in southwest Georgia

A 61-year-old Mexican man who was being held in a federal immigration detention center in Southwest Georgia died Tuesday from complications from a stroke, according to Stewart County Coroner Sybil Ammons.

Salvador Vargas was pronounced dead at Piedmont Columbus Regional Hospital in Columbus, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said in a news release. ICE said it encountered Vargas at the Giles W. Dalby Correctional Facility in Post, Texas, following his February 2010 drug possession conviction.

ICE added that it has notified Mexican officials about Vargas’ death and that they have contacted his next of kin.

“ICE is firmly committed to the health and welfare of all those in its custody and is undertaking a comprehensive, agency-wide review of this incident, as it does in all such cases,” ICE said in its news release.

Four other Stewart detainees have died with COVID-19 as of April 3. Between 2017 and 2019, two men who were being held in solitary confinement at Stewart hanged themselves, a third died with pneumonia and a fourth died with a heart infection and multi-organ failure.

About the Author

Jeremy Redmon

Jeremy Redmon has reported for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution since 2005.

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