{"id":88432,"date":"2026-01-16T11:19:23","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T11:19:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/88432\/"},"modified":"2026-01-16T11:19:23","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T11:19:23","slug":"family-of-upper-darby-man-who-died-in-ice-custody-pushes-for-answers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/88432\/","title":{"rendered":"Family of Upper Darby man who died in ICE custody pushes for answers"},"content":{"rendered":"

From Philly and the Pa. suburbs to South Jersey and Delaware, what would you like WHYY News to cover? Let us know!<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

Michael La, 34, has \u201ca lot of memories\u201d from the summers he spent as a child with his uncle, Parady La, who died Jan. 9 while in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was like a father figure to me,\u201d Michael said of his uncle. \u201cMy parents split up at a really early age of my life. I was a baby, so I didn\u2019t get to see my two parents together, and my dad really wasn\u2019t in my life, right? So [Parady] was the one that connected me to that side of my family.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Parady La would drive two hours to Michael\u2019s home in Allentown and bring him back to Philadelphia during Michael\u2019s summer vacation. There, Michael recalled that his uncle would give him and other kids money for ice cream when the Mister Softee truck came by.\n <\/p>\n

\u201cHe always put himself aside and looked out for his family,\u201d Michael said.\n<\/p>\n

Michael and Parady La\u2019s other family members, friends<\/a> and loved ones are mourning his loss and celebrating his life at a memorial service in Upper Darby on Friday, even as they push for information about the circumstances that led to the 46-year-old\u2019s death last week.\n<\/p>\n

Michael started a GoFundMe<\/a> for the family to help pay for funeral expenses and support Parady La\u2019s 23-year-old daughter, Jazmine La. Donations will also go toward the family\u2019s efforts to pursue legal action against ICE and Federal Detention Center Philadelphia.\n<\/p>\n

What happened to Parady La?<\/p>\n

According to Michael, on Jan. 6, Parady La asked his cousin if she needed anything from the grocery store. Hours later, family members found his car, empty, parked by the side of the road a half-mile away. Parady La called later that day and informed his family that ICE agents had pulled him over and asked for his ID, and then detained him.\n<\/p>\n

Michael, who lives in Florida, said his cousin called him at 3:30 p.m. on Jan. 8 and told him Parady La was in the hospital, and was brain dead.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cOne thing is huge, is that your family member, who\u2019s been here their whole life \u2026 that he\u2019s being sent to a country he\u2019s never been to before,\u201d he said. \u201cSo we\u2019re dealing with that in 24 hours, and a little after 24 hours, we hear that he\u2019s in the hospital, brain dead. So it\u2019s just shocking and really confusing on top of that.\u201d\n <\/p>\n