Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said her country would take steps to protest the death of a Mexican national in the United States.
Another detainee has died in a U.S. immigration detention facility, authorities say, raising concerns about the rising death toll of migrants in government custody amid President Donald Trump’s crackdown.
Mexican immigrant Jose Guadalupe Ramos Solano was found unresponsive at a California processing center last week and was later pronounced dead at a hospital, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said Monday.
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Ramos Solano was one of about 14 detainees, including several Mexican immigrants, who died in ICE custody this year.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum expressed concern about the trend on Monday.
“We will now take further action. We will take several steps to protest the death of another Mexican in the United States,” Sheinbaum told reporters, according to Reuters.
ICE said Ramos Solano, who was taken into custody by the agency last month, had multiple medical conditions, including diabetes and high blood pressure.
“He received ongoing medical care while in custody, including daily medication to treat his illness,” the report said.
But as the death toll continues to rise, human rights activists are questioning the medical care immigrants receive in ICE facilities.
At least 32 people died in ICE custody last year, compared to 11 in 2024, the year before Trump took office.
Earlier this month, 41-year-old Afghan asylum seeker Mohommad Nazir Pakchawar also died in an immigration detention facility.
ICE said authorities transported the man to a hospital in Texas after he complained of “shortness of breath and chest pain.”
The agency also announced that Royer Perez Jimenez, 19, a Mexican immigrant, died in a Florida detention center on March 16 of an “apparent suicide.”
ICE often attempts to portray immigrants who die in its facilities as serious criminals. However, some detainees had no criminal history or had only committed minor crimes several years earlier.
Jimenez, for example, was only charged with “misdemeanor fraud by impersonation and resisting a police officer” and was not convicted.
There have also been calls for an independent investigation into some of the fatal accidents.
When Cuban immigrant Gerardo Lunas Campos died in January, ICE initially said he was experiencing “medical distress.”
But a coroner later ruled Campos’ death a homicide, meaning the death was caused by someone else, prompting authorities to change their interpretation of the case.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees ICE, claimed Campos was attempting to take his own life.
“Mr. Campos violently resisted the security personnel and continued to attempt to take his life. During the ensuing struggle, Mr. Campos stopped breathing and lost consciousness,” the Department of Homeland Security said in a Jan. 16 statement.
Since returning to the White House for his second term in office in January 2025, President Trump has launched a nationwide campaign to detain and deport illegal immigrants.
The crackdown also targets immigrants legally in the United States, including permanent residents, for their participation in protests against Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza.
In January, federal agents killed two people in Minnesota during a weeks-long immigration enforcement operation, sparking protests and outrage across the country.
