![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/FDC_Miami.JPG\" "\\"The")
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The Federal Detention Center in downtown Miami, located next to a courthouse and high-rise apartment buildings, holds about 400 immigrant detainees. <\/p>\n
Carl Juste<\/p>\n
cjuste@miamiherald.com<\/p>\n
A 27-year-old Cuban man died this week in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Florida \u2014 the second presumed suicide in the Sunshine State in less than a month.<\/p>\n
Aled Damien Carbonell-Betancourt was found in his cell \u201cin what appeared to be a suicide attempt\u201d on the early morning of April 12, ICE said in a press release on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Efforts to revive him were unsuccessful, according to the statement, and the official cause of death is under investigation.<\/p>\n
At least nine immigrants have died of presumed suicides since President Donald Trump assumed office in January 2025. Since then, at least 49 people have died overall in ICE custody, according to a Miami Herald analysis of press releases, death reports, autopsies, and government documents. Experts say 2026 is on track to be the deadliest year on record for immigrants in agency custody, with 17 deaths thus far.<\/p>\n
The Miami Herald was unable to immediately reach family or representatives for Carbonell-Betancourt. The government press release notes that he entered ICE custody on Feb. 11 after being charged with resisting an officer.<\/p>\n
However, reporters located records that show prosecutors dropped the charges against him\u2014 and that officers tased and took him to the hospital in November 2025 after they stopped him for potential trespassing in Hialeah.<\/p>\n
On Nov. 20, 2025, a Hialeah police officer observed Carbonell-Betancourt at an \u201cabandoned farmer\u2019s market\u201d at 11:30 p.m, according to an arrest report. The officer warned him about trespassing, asked him to put his belongings on the patrol car hood, and proceeded to pat him down for weapons.<\/p>\n
The officer asked Carbonell-Betancourt for identification, which he \u201cfailed to provide.\u201d It\u2019s unclear whether Carbonell-Betancourt had any documents on his person at the time of the arrest.<\/p>\n
The 27-year old then ran, and the officer pursued him \u2014 using a taser and placing him in handcuffs, according to court records.<\/p>\n
He was taken to a hospital and charged with resisting an officer with violence, a felony under state law. But documents from the state attorney\u2019s office and court records later show that the charge was later reduced to a misdemeanor for resisting an officer without violence, which they then declined to pursue.<\/p>\n
A snapshot from the arrest report from November 2025 of Aled Carbonell-Betancourt. Government records <\/p>\n
The Herald has requested footage of Carbonell-Betancourt\u2019s arrest as well as the report on his autopsy.<\/p>\n
Carbonell-Betancourt first came into the U.S. on Oct. 30, 2024, and was released on parole and put in deportation proceedings in immigration court, the agency said. ICE came across him after he was charged with resisting an officer.<\/p>\n
Another case shows he was involved in a family dispute on Nov. 16 and charged with two felonies, but the case was closed in December. An elderly relative said that Carbonell-Betancourt \u201cthrew a rock through the residence\u2019s front door\u201d which hit the family member on the head, according to court records.<\/p>\n
ICE encountered Carbonell-Betancourt in Miami-Dade County Jail on Nov. 22, 2025, and held him in the Federal Detention Center in downtown Miami in February.<\/p>\n
Under Trump\u2019s mass deportation plans, ICE detention centers have quickly become overcrowded \u2014 and the government has placed civil immigration detainees at Bureau of Prisons facilities. A Herald investigation last year found that ICE detainees at FDC face harsh conditions, crumbling infrastructure, use of force and lack of access to lawyers.<\/p>\n
READ MORE: \u2018Some cry all day.\u2019 ICE detainees face harsh conditions in Miami federal facility<\/a><\/p>\n Second suicide in less than a month<\/p>\n Deaths in ICE detention have been causing widespread alarm amongst lawyers, advocates and community leaders, who say that the pace of deaths corresponds to poor conditions, overpopulation and the quality of healthcare in custody. ICE has long been criticized for not providing proper healthcare of detainees.<\/p>\n Government officials have defended ICE in the wake of deaths in custody, maintaining that detainees receive initial screening within 12 hours and a full health assessment within two weeks of arriving at ICE detention centers.<\/p>\n The Department of Homeland Security has said that it provides the best medical<\/a> care many immigrant detainees have received and that the death rates are a result of the agency managing a larger population. There were about 51,000 detainees in ICE custody nationwide as of April 4, compared to almost 29,000 in early April last year, according to Syracuse University researchers.<\/a><\/p>\n But critics are skeptical, and say that centers already could not handle detainees\u2019 needs even before the population at ICE facilities ballooned under Trump\u2019s mass deportation agenda.<\/p>\n Dr. Amy Zeidan, an emergency medicine physician and a member of Physician for Human Rights, told the Herald that there have long been acute deficiencies in mental health care at ICE facilities. That\u2019s especially true, she said, after the mass expansion of the numbers in custody.<\/p>\n \u201cThey didn\u2019t have the appropriate workforce and staff with appropriate training and qualifications,\u201d Zeidan said. \u201cAnd when you increase your population size, there\u2019s just no way they can handle the capacity that they are supposed to handle.\u201d<\/p>\n