A total of 15 people have died in ICE custody this year. The latest death happened in Arizona

In less than two weeks, two people have died while in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the state of Arizona.

On Sept. 8, Oscar Rascon Duarte, a 56-year-old Mexican national, died in Mesa, Arizona, where he had been receiving treatment while in ICE custody and awaiting deportation.

According to a press release from ICE, Rascon Duarte had been receiving treatment at the facility since January of this year. The cause of death remains under investigation, ICE said.

Rascon Duarte was transferred over to ICE custody from the Arizona Department of Corrections in January of this year after serving a 20-year prison sentence. He was to await deportation proceedings at the Eloy Detention Center, but on Jan. 15, he was transferred to Promise Hospital in Mesa, where he was to receive long-term care for Alzheimer's disease, kidney cancer and hepatitis C.

His death marks the second death in ICE custody in the state of Arizona in little over a week. On Aug. 31, Lorenzo Antonio Batrez Vargas, also known as “Lenchito,” a 32-year-old man from Mexico and longtime Flagstaff resident, died while receiving treatment at the same Mesa facility.

In a statement posted on their Instagram account, Detention Watch Network (DWN), a national coalition of advocates who work toward the elimination of immigration detention, called out President Donald Trump’s latest enforcement implementations, stating that the “cruel detention expansion is exacerbating inherently inhumane conditions and expanding abuses, with increasing reports of death, medical neglect, overcrowding, lack of food and rampant transfers meant to confuse and cut people off from legal access, loved ones and support networks.”

As enforcement activity has picked up since Trump's return, several people have also died trying to flee while ICE conducts immigration raids. In July, farmworker Jaime Garcia died when fleeing a raid in Camarillo, California. In August, Carlos Roberto Montoya died after being run over when fleeing a raid at a Home Depot in Monrovia, California. And earlier this month, Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez was shot and killed by an ICE agent in Chicago, Illinois, when they attempted to detain him during a traffic stop.

At least 15 people have died in detention centers since Trump took office on Jan. 20. Three of the deaths, including Rascon Duarte’s and Batrez Vargas’, occurred in facilities in Arizona.

Serawit Gezahegn, an Ethiopian citizen, died on Jan. 29 after being detained just over five months in the Eloy Detention Center in Eloy. He died in the same Mesa facility after a history of complicated respiratory issues that led to him being hospitalized and treated for tuberculosis, according to ICE records.

According to the DWN, Eloy Detention Center is known as one of the deadliest in the nation. From October 2022 to September 2024, the Florence Immigrant and Refugee Project, an Arizona-based non-profit that advocates for immigrant rights, filed 53 complaints to the Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties and the Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman.

“No one should suffer in these conditions and no family should have to bear this tragic loss. We extend our condolences to the family and community of Mr. Rascon Duarte,” DWN said in a statement.