Green Card Holder Dies in ICE Custody in Texas; Family Questions Medical Care
The Texas Tribune reports that 56-year-old Mexican national and U.S. lawful permanent resident Andrade-Covarrubias died in a Texas immigration detention facility. ICE says he was detained and faced removal proceedings for allegedly concealing a 2004 theft arrest record and fraudulently obtaining lawful status; his daughter says he disclosed the criminal record when applying. The report also mentions similar deaths in Texas this year and a Supreme Court ruling on screening green card holders at ports of entry.
The day after The Texas Tribune reported the death, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said in a statement that a 56-year-old Mexican man who died in its custody last Saturday had been a lawful permanent resident of the United States.
On Saturday morning, 56-year-old Emiliano Andrade-Covarrubias was found unconscious in his bed at the Rio Grande Processing Center. ICE said staff performed chest compressions and called emergency services. But he was pronounced dead about 20 minutes after being found unresponsive. He had been held in immigration detention since June.
ICE said Monday that the exact cause of Andrade-Covarrubias's death is not yet known because the Webb County Medical Examiner's Office is still conducting an autopsy. The agency also said he had received appropriate medical care and was treated by professional medical personnel.
In its statement, ICE said that on June 26, Andrade-Covarrubias was detained by immigration officers at the port of entry in Laredo as he returned to Texas from Mexico. The agency added that officers detained him because they believed he had failed to disclose a 2004 arrest for theft during his vetting process, and was suspected of fraudulently obtaining U.S. lawful status.
The agency also said it was seeking to deport him and that he was in removal proceedings before an immigration judge. Online records show Andrade-Covarrubias had been scheduled to appear at an immigration court hearing on November 2.
Andrade-Covarrubias's daughter, Estefany Andrade, told The Texas Tribune that her father had disclosed his criminal record during the application process, and immigration officials subsequently approved his green card application.
Andrade-Covarrubias lived in Dallas for decades, where he raised three U.S.-born children. He made a living as a painter for apartments and townhouses. His daughter said he was planning to return to Mexico at the time. She added that her father frequently traveled to Mexico because he was building a house there.
She said her father had heart disease, diabetes, and high blood pressure. He brought his medication with him when he was detained, but detention center staff "would not give him his medication."
When her father said he felt unwell and began coughing, the family was especially worried because he had been hospitalized with COVID-19 in 2021, and that severe illness had caused long-term damage to his health. He sought help from the facility's medical staff, but he told his daughter, "They simply ignored him."
She said her father told her that even when he reported difficulty breathing and chest tightness, the medical staff at the center brushed him off.
U.S. Representative Henry Cuellar, a Democrat representing Laredo, told The Texas Tribune that he visited the detention facility on Sunday and asked staff about medical procedures. But because the death is still under investigation, they could not provide specific details about Andrade-Covarrubias's case. The Democratic lawmaker said he has sent written inquiries to ICE to obtain more information about the case.
In a statement on Monday, Cuellar said: "Any death in federal custody is an extremely serious matter, and we need to know exactly what happened."
Andrade-Covarrubias is the 7th person to die this year while in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody in Texas. The first such death this year was that of Gerardo Lunas Campos, whose death the El Paso Medical Examiner's Office ruled a homicide in January.
Andrade-Covarrubias is also the second person to die this year at an ICE facility in Laredo. According to the agency, 63-year-old Mexican national Félix Alcorta-Rodríguez, who was held at the Webb County Detention Center, died on June 19 after being found unresponsive.
In June of this year, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at ports of entry have the authority to prevent lawful permanent residents—commonly known as green card holders—with any arrest or criminal conviction record from re-entering the United States.
In an opinion written by Justice Clarence Thomas, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that immigration officers at ports of entry do not need "clear and convincing evidence that a lawful permanent resident committed a crime involving moral turpitude." Immigration officers will be allowed to block the person's entry and detain them, but whether to ultimately revoke the green card and order deportation will be decided by an immigration judge.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson issued a dissenting opinion, writing that the Court's ruling undermines "the benefits and security that come with holding a green card." She also wrote that she worried the Court had "written the government a blank check," leaving lawful permanent residents in "the limbo of unresolved immigration status."
