{"id":129248,"date":"2026-01-19T17:20:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-19T17:20:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/129248\/"},"modified":"2026-01-19T17:20:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-19T17:20:10","slug":"ice-says-an-immigrant-who-died-in-a-sprawling-texas-detention-facility-killed-himself-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/129248\/","title":{"rendered":"ICE says an immigrant who died in a sprawling Texas detention facility killed himself"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">EL PASO \u2014 An immigrant from Nicaragua was found dead at a Texas immigration detention facility last week, federal officials said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">Victor Manuel Diaz appears to have killed himself Wednesday at the sprawling tent complex at the U.S. Army\u2019s Fort Bliss base in El Paso, Immigration and Customs Enforcement said in a statement. The federal investigation into his death continues.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">It\u2019s the same facility where ICE said <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/news\/immigration\/2026\/01\/16\/ice-says-cuban-immigrant-died-by-suicide-a-witness-says-guards-pinned-and-choked-him\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/news\/immigration\/2026\/01\/16\/ice-says-cuban-immigrant-died-by-suicide-a-witness-says-guards-pinned-and-choked-him\/\">another detainee died earlier this month<\/a> as staff members tried to keep him from killing himself. But a fellow detainee said at least five officers were restraining the handcuffed inmate and at least one had an arm around his neck.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">Diaz was swept up on Jan. 6 in the federal crackdown on immigration in Minnesota and sent to Texas, ICE said.<\/p>\n<p>Breaking News<\/p>\n<p class=\"dmnc_features-cta-social-article-cta-social-module__3beff secondaryRoman secondaryRoman-20 text-center text-gray-dark\">Get the latest breaking news from North Texas and beyond.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dmnc_features-cta-social-article-cta-social-module__8MgJa flex flex-wrap text-gray-dark secondaryRoman secondaryRoman-10 text-center justify-center\">By signing up, you agree to our\u00a0<a class=\"dmnc_features-cta-social-article-cta-social-module__lU9-l border-b border-gray-dark hover_border-0 focus_border-0 active_border-0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/help\/terms-of-service\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Terms of Service<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a class=\"dmnc_features-cta-social-article-cta-social-module__lU9-l border-b border-gray-dark hover_border-0 focus_border-0 active_border-0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/help\/privacy-policy\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Related<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"aspect-ratio:190 \/ 127\" class=\"dmnc_features-article-body-embeds-related-story-module__2UraD flex-none object-cover dmnc_images-modern-image-module__QFaG- max-w-full h-auto text-white dmnc_images-modern-image-module__9Zlll bg-gray-light object-contain dmnc_images-modern-image-module__P3kZ4 w-full\" width=\"190\" height=\"127\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ESIXPXL4R5ARHH2WRPVU7LWLYE.jpg\" alt=\"This Aug. 7, 2025, satellite image shows construction of large white tents for a new...\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">Diaz entered the United States in March 2024 and Border Patrol officers took him into custody. He was released on parole pending a court date and a judge ordered him to leave the U.S. in an August hearing that Diaz did not attend, ICE said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">Diaz was given a final order for removal on Jan. 12, two days before he was found unconscious in his room, authorities said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">ICE did not release any other details on Diaz\u2019s death. The agency notifies Congress and releases a statement on its website of all in-custody deaths.<\/p>\n<p>Related<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"aspect-ratio:190 \/ 127\" class=\"dmnc_features-article-body-embeds-related-story-module__2UraD flex-none object-cover dmnc_images-modern-image-module__QFaG- max-w-full h-auto text-white dmnc_images-modern-image-module__9Zlll bg-gray-light object-contain dmnc_images-modern-image-module__P3kZ4 w-full\" width=\"190\" height=\"127\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1768843210_753_5YJ2RM3G25AUPOTG3LQIQYPPRI.jpg\" alt=\"Danisela Gaitan poses for a photo with a hat worn by her boyfriend, Brian Ernesto...\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">Diaz, 36, was being held at Camp East Montana where ICE said another detainee, Geraldo Lunas Campos, died as staff members tried to prevent him from killing himself.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">But a preliminary investigation by the El Paso County Medical Examiner\u2019s Office found <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/news\/immigration\/2026\/01\/16\/ice-says-cuban-immigrant-died-by-suicide-a-witness-says-guards-pinned-and-choked-him\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/news\/immigration\/2026\/01\/16\/ice-says-cuban-immigrant-died-by-suicide-a-witness-says-guards-pinned-and-choked-him\/\">Lunas Campos, 55, died from asphyxia from chest and neck compression<\/a> and said the death would likely be classified a homicide.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">A fellow detainee told the AP that Lunas Campos was handcuffed and refused to go back into his cell when at least five guards pinned him to the floor. The detainee said at least one of the guards squeezed an arm around Lunas Campos\u2019 neck.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">ICE said it is still investigating that death.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">This story includes discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know needs help, the national suicide and crisis lifeline in the U.S. is available by calling or texting 988.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EL PASO \u2014 An immigrant from Nicaragua was found dead at a Texas immigration detention facility last week,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":129249,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1724,27,29,28,1499],"class_list":["post-129248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-immigration","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news","tag-u-s-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129248","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129248"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129248\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/129249"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}