Second Migrant Dies of Presumed Suicide Under ICE Custody in Miami

A 27-year-old Cuban man died while in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody in Miami, in what the agency described as a "presumed suicide," renewing scrutiny over a rising number of deaths in immigration detention and conditions inside Florida facilities.

ICE identified the man as Aled Damien Carbonell-Betancourt. According to the agency, he was found in his cell Sunday morning at the Federal Detention Center in downtown Miami in what appeared to be a suicide attempt. Staff members began CPR and Miami Fire Rescue responded, but he was pronounced dead a short time later. ICE said the official cause of death remains under investigation.

Carbonell-Betancourt's death marks the second presumed suicide in ICE custody in Florida in less than a month.

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That earlier case involved 19-year-old Royer Pérez-Jiménez, a Mexican migrant who died in March at the Glades County Detention Center, also in Florida. ICE similarly described that death as a presumed suicide, though the official cause was still under investigation. His death was the 13th in ICE custody in 2026 and the 46th since the start of President Donald Trump's second term. Reuters, citing ICE data, later reported that at least 16 people had died in U.S. immigration custody this year as of early April.

Carbonell-Betancourt was being held at the Federal Detention Center in Miami, a federal prison that has increasingly been used to house immigration detainees. The Miami Herald reported that the downtown facility holds about 400 immigrant detainees.

Advocates and local watchdogs have repeatedly raised concerns about overcrowding, access to medical and mental health care, and the use of county jails and federal lockups for civil immigration detention. Those concerns have intensified as deaths in custody have climbed nationally.

As of Friday, ICE had not released additional details about Carbonell-Betancourt's mental health status, the circumstances leading up to his death, or whether surveillance footage and internal reports would be made public. The autopsy and official investigation are pending.

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