U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has denied the Daily Times’ Freedom of Information Act request for documents related to the in-detention death of an Upper Darby man earlier this month.
“ICE has determined that the information you are seeking relates to ongoing law enforcement investigations,” a response letter dated Jan. 22 stated. “Therefore, ICE is withholding all records, documents, and/or other material, which if disclosed prior to completion, could reasonably be expected to interfere with law enforcement proceedings and final agency actions related to those proceedings.”
The material being sought is related to the death of 46-year-old Parady La, a Cambodian immigrant who died after being arrested by ICE Jan. 6.
La came to America at age 2 in 1981 after his family fled the Khmer Rouge genocide in Cambodia and became a lawful permanent resident a year later. He had several convictions in the years since related to what his family described as a lifelong struggle with addiction.
These included nonviolent offenses like forgery, receiving stolen property and possession of a controlled substance, though he did also have a 2000 conviction for robbery with a 3 to 23 month sentence.
ICE stated in a Jan. 10 death notice that these arrests led to La losing his legal residency, but the accuracy of that statement has not yet been verified.
It was also unclear whether La was specifically targeted when he was picked up about a half-mile from his home Jan. 6 or if he was detained during a chance encounter with ICE agents as he went grocery shopping for his family.
Either way, the narrative from ICE stated that La was being held at the Federal Detention Center in Philadelphia and that he had received treatment for withdrawal symptoms, but was found unresponsive in his cell Jan. 7 and taken to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in critical condition.
He died in the early morning hours Jan. 9.
La’s family members are challenging ICE’s statement that he received treatment and claim they have witnesses who say his repeated pleas for medical help were ignored.
They said he was vomiting and in distress for more than 24 hours, and did not receive proper medical care.
“There are serious inconsistencies between what our family has been told, what witnesses have described, and what has been publicly stated,” nephew Michael La wrote in the description of a GoFundMe for La’s surviving family. “Because of these contradictions, we believe the official account does not fully or accurately reflect what happened in Parady’s final hours. We are seeking transparency, medical records and accountability so the truth can come to light.”
The family has retained the services of attorney Jon Feinberg to help determine the truth.
He previously said it is “an outrage” if what the family is hearing is accurate, but advised that the first step is finding out exactly what happened to La while he was in custody. Feinberg did not have further comment for this story.
The FOIA response from ICE provides instructions for an appeal. The Daily Times has instead elected to wait 30 days for the investigation to conclude before resubmitting its request.
ICE indicated in the response that even once the exemption that applies here is no longer applicable, it may exercise other exemptions to the release of certain information.