<\/p>\n
A release form ICE gave Gustavo Rivero Napoles when he was transferred to the intensive care unit of a hospital. It says he refused to sign, but his family said his health had deteriorated so badly, he was incapable of signing and likely unconscious.<\/p>\n
Courtesy of the Rivero family<\/p>\n
On Oct. 25, in the intensive care unit of a California hospital, a Cuban man who spent nearly his entire life in Hialeah died of cancer after about six months in immigration detention.<\/p>\n
But the government has not reported Gustavo Rivero Napoles\u2019 death \u2014 because U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement released him from its custody the day he was moved to the ICU, likely unresponsive, about 48 hours before he died.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe died being treated like a dog,\u201d his niece, Angelina Rivero, 33, told the Miami Herald.<\/p>\n
In previous years, ICE was directed to publicly report and conduct reviews of all deaths of individuals in custody, including those who died within 30 days of release<\/a>.<\/p>\n The agency reversed those standards<\/a> in June. Now, the government is no longer required to report deaths once a person has been released.<\/p>\n Deborah Fleischaker was assistant director for policy at ICE in 2021, when her office drafted the initial policy. She later became the acting chief of staff, and said the original policy was implemented in part to discourage the agency from releasing sick or dying people to avoid accountability for their death.<\/p>\n \u201cSomebody, like in this case, where they were very sick in custody, ICE held them anyway and then released them when they were on death\u2019s door,\u201d said Fleischaker. \u201cIt\u2019s very hard to conclude that they don\u2019t do that to avoid claiming the death in custody.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHave there been others? We wouldn\u2019t know,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n At least two other deaths within days of release from custody this year have sparked scrutiny \u2014 a Haitian asylum seeker who died of hypothermia<\/a> outside of Pittsburgh and a Rohingya asylum seeker left in a parking lot in New York who also died in part of hypothermia. Both deaths were ruled a homicide<\/a>.<\/p>\n Deaths in immigration custody have jumped significantly since the beginning of 2025, when the Trump Administration launched a mass deportation campaign. Over 30 people died in 2025 and at least 29 so far in 2026 \u2014 outpacing every year for the last two decades. A Miami Herald investigation into two deaths found evidence that the men received inadequate or delayed medical treatment<\/a>.<\/p>\n His death has not been previously reported. The Herald reached out to representatives for ICE and DHS. They responded asking for identifying information about Rivero Napoles but had not provided comment by the time of publication.<\/p>\n The Herald spoke with four relatives of Gustavo Rivero Napoles, who said they wanted his story shared, that he was deeply loved and they are horrified at how he was treated. He was in the hospital starting Oct. 20, they said, and transferred to the ICU on Oct. 23, at which point records show ICE released him from custody. By then, his family said, he was unresponsive.<\/p>\n \u201cThey didn\u2019t have any intentions of releasing him. When they knew he was dying, they said, \u2018All right, let him go,\u2019 and then he dies,\u201d said Carolina Rivero, 47, his sister-in-law, who was with him when he died. \u201cThat\u2019s infuriating.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThey just kind of threw him away,\u201d she said. \u201cThey just waited for him to die.\u201d<\/p>\n Rivero Napoles, 65, was diagnosed with stage 4 liver cancer before he was taken into ICE custody. He was in a wheelchair. For months, they had been fighting for his release, and didn\u2019t believe he was receiving proper medication or treatment.<\/p>\n In September, his sister Catalina Rivero, 72, filed a lawsuit challenging the legality of his detention and seeking his release. A judge ordered that an attorney be appointed on Oct. 26, the day after he died.<\/p>\n ICE did not inform his family he was in the hospital for days, they said. On Oct. 24, a doctor called his sister to say he was in the ICU \u2014 “more dead than alive,\u201d kept alive only by machines, she said \u2014 and that ICE had left him there. For months, her brother had told her on the phone: \u201cI\u2019m going to die here.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cKeep him alive, por Dios,\u201d she told the doctor, sobbing.<\/p>\n When his relatives arrived at the hospital late Oct. 24, Gustavo Rivero Napoles\u2019 health had deteriorated so badly that his skin was yellow, almost green, they said. He was not moving, unresponsive and bleeding from his mouth.<\/p>\n Even judges had told them he should go home, they said.<\/p>\n He was in a wheelchair because the condition in his liver made his legs so inflamed that it was painful to walk. He told his family that sometimes he lay on the floor of his cell crying out in pain, and that he wasn\u2019t receiving his medication on a regular basis. He said a doctor in the detention facility had told him \u201call you illegals just want drugs\u201d when he asked for his medication.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t want to die in here,\u201d he told his sister on the phone from detention.<\/p>\n \u201cHe would call me any hour of the day, any hour of the night. I would sit with him,\u201d Catalina Rivero said. \u201cI would shake in my bed and listen to him crying, begging me to help.\u201d<\/p>\n Rivero flew to the United States from Cuba around 1970 when he was 8 years old. He grew up, and spent most of his life in Hialeah, one of nine siblings. He married and had two daughters. He received permanent status in the country, his relatives said, alongside many Cubans who arrived around the same time in the 60s. He loved fishing, skateboarding and surfing when he was younger. He suffered from bipolar affective disorder, anxiety and depression.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s one of the most loving, genuine people I\u2019ve ever met,\u201d said Carolina Rivero. She named her son after him. She described him as emotionally strong, and said it was terrifying to see his fear in detention. He had previously worked as a welder, she said.<\/p>\n Records show he had decades-old charges related to drugs and other offenses. In 2023, he was arrested in connection with a 1984 rape case, but prosecutors declined to pursue sexual battery charges, records show. His family told the Herald that the woman did not recognize him and had described her assailants as several Colombians. He denied having anything to do with the rape, but was in pain and wanted to be released from jail, they said. In a plea deal, he was given a battery charge, two years house arrest and probation, with an agreement to take random drug tests, his family said. He failed a test, and was placed in jail this year.<\/p>\n \u201cI think the prosecutor took advantage of him,\u201d said his brother, Alex Rivero, 67. \u201cSince they couldn\u2019t get him on rape, they just wanted to get him on something. […] My brother should\u2019ve just walked away from that.\u201d<\/p>\n Rivero Napoles found out he had cancer in jail in Miami. The judge wanted to release him, but knew that he would be quickly picked up by ICE, his sister-in-law said.<\/p>\n She remembered the judge saying, \u201cI can\u2019t have it on my conscience that you\u2019re going to die with them.\u201d<\/p>\n Another judge released him, saying he should be able to die with his family. He was immediately placed in immigration detention at a check-in center in Miramar so overcrowded he slept on the floor in packed rooms, then Krome North Service Processing Center before he was transferred across the country to California City Processing Center.<\/p>\n \u201cI know that some people are going to hear his story and then they\u2019re going to want to know what his past was, and they\u2019re like, \u2018Oh well, he deserved it,\u2019\u201d said Carolina Rivero. \u201cNo, he didn\u2019t. He did his time.\u201d<\/p>\n He was in touch with his family constantly until last week \u2014 especially his sister, with whom he lived and was the closest. She thought of him more as a son than a brother. When they did not hear from him, they began calling, asking about his wellbeing. On Thursday, Oct. 22, his brother spoke with immigration officials, who said he was in custody and the family could visit him. He asked if Rivero Napoles was okay, and the woman said she could not share information. The family would later find out that he was already in the hospital.<\/p>\n A form shows that the agency released him on Oct. 23, and instructed him to check in with authorities in Miramar in November. In place of his signature, an officer wrote \u201crefuse to sign.\u201d But his family said he was unable to understand or respond at that time, with the level of toxins in his body.<\/p>\n On Oct. 24, an immigration officer called his sister, saying he had been placed in a local mental health institute, but would not share which one. When they called the number provided, the facility said he wasn\u2019t there. A doctor called her hours later, saying he was in the ICU at Adventist Health Tehachapi Valley Medical Center.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you\u2019re close enough, come now,\u201d the doctor said. Carolina Rivero and her husband got in the car and drove five hours. His sister took a flight from Miami. They arrived around midnight, and the sister the next morning.<\/p>\n Nurses said that they had been pleading with agents for the family\u2019s contact, but they refused. When he was placed in the hospital initially, nurses said two agents watched him at all time.<\/p>\n The family did not know he had been released from custody until they got to the hospital, and found the form among a box of his belongings. \u201cHis papers, medications and belongings were left in a dirty donut box in the closet,\u201d Carolina Rivero said. He only responded to them once: when he shed two tears when his sister walked in and told him, \u201cI\u2019m here.\u201d<\/p>\n He died Sunday night. His family said they believed if he had received better treatment he would have lived longer, or been able to explore the possibilities of a liver transplant.<\/p>\n \u201cThe doctors did tell us that, if he would have gotten the right care \u2014 no matter what he was going to die, we knew that and we understood that \u2014 but he could have lasted longer,\u201d Carolina Rivero said.<\/p>\n \u201cHe could have at least died knowing that his family was there with him,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n It appears that ICE may not know he died.<\/p>\n On Friday, nearly a week after his death, an immigration officer called Catalina Rivero, she said, to confirm that he would be checking into an appointment they scheduled for him in Florida on Nov. 23. When she told them he died, they asked her where he had died.<\/p>\n \u201cICE killed my brother,\u201d she told them.<\/p>\n This story was originally published October 30, 2026 at 3:43 PM.<\/p>\n![\"Gustavo](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Image_67E5566E-75EF-4559-BFC7-D1403B200123.jpeg\" "\\"Image_67E5566E-75EF-4559-BFC7-D1403B200123.jpeg\\"")
Gustavo Rivero Napoles in an undated photo provided by his family. Courtesy of the Rivero family \u2018I don\u2019t want to die like this\u2019<\/p>\n![\"Gustavo](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Image_F878520B-C021-4E91-8C38-E98F8E35F163.jpeg\" "\\"Image_F878520B-C021-4E91-8C38-E98F8E35F163.jpeg\\"")
Gustavo Rivero Napoles in an undated photo provided by his family. Courtesy of the Rivero family <\/p>\n A release form ICE gave Gustavo Rivero Napoles when he was transferred to the intensive care unit of a hospital. It says he refused to sign, but his family said his health had deteriorated so badly, he was incapable of signing and likely unconscious. Courtesy of the Rivero family <\/p>\n
![\"Profile](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1793406490_455_Newsroom_Headshots_MJO_22.jpg\")