Cuban immigrant dies in Georgia ICE custody, suicide suspected, investigation ongoing

A 33-year-old Cuban national died after being found unresponsive in his cell at Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia, adding another death to a detention system already under intense scrutiny. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Denny Adan Gonzalez was discovered on April 28, 2026, and pronounced dead at 11:11 p.m. The agency said the suspected cause of death is suicide, while the official cause remains under investigation.

ICE said CoreCivic staff found Gonzalez unresponsive at about 10:25 p.m. Emergency personnel responded immediately, used a cutdown tool and began CPR, and Webster County Emergency Medical Services continued resuscitation efforts before he was pronounced dead. The agency said Gonzalez had first entered the United States near the Hidalgo, Texas, port of entry in May 2019, was later deported, then re-entered in 2022. ICE also said he had been arrested for assault on a female and domestic violence before his detention.

The death raises immediate questions about what happened inside one of the country’s most closely watched immigration jails and what protections were in place for a man being held in civil custody. ICE said it notifies the Department of Homeland Security, the Inspector General and ICE Professional Responsibility whenever a detainee dies, but the agency has not said what, if any, warning signs were identified before Gonzalez was found unresponsive. In a suspected suicide, the central accountability issue is whether mental-health monitoring, observation protocols and emergency response were adequate in a facility run by a private contractor.

Stewart Detention Center, operated by CoreCivic, has long drawn criticism from immigrant advocates for its remote location, restrictive environment and allegations of substandard medical care. CoreCivic has said its detention centers provide safe environments for detainees as they move through judicial and diplomatic processes. Jason Streeval is listed as the facility’s warden.

Gonzalez’s death comes as ICE detention levels have climbed since President Donald Trump returned to office and the agency seeks an average of 99,000 detained immigrants in fiscal years 2026 and 2027. ICE said deaths in its custody reached a two-decade high in 2025 and were already on pace to rise again in 2026. By early May, ICE custody deaths had reached 18 for the year. A JAMA study published in April found mortality in ICE detention had risen enough that the latest fiscal year surpassed death rates seen during the COVID-19 pandemic. In that context, Gonzalez’s death is not only a tragedy in one Georgia cellblock, but part of a larger pattern of loss inside an expanding detention system.