Investigation Underway After Vietnamese National In Ice Custody Died In The Hospital

An investigation is underway aft a Vietnamese nationalist died successful nan infirmary connected Saturday while successful Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody, according to an email seen by NBC News.

Tien Xuan Phan, 55, had been successful custody astatine nan ICE Processing Center successful Karnes County, Texas, for 7 weeks. A typical for nan family did not respond to a petition for comment.

According to nan ICE email, Phan was taken to nan section hospital, Otto Kaiser Memorial Hospital, connected Friday for "evaluation owed to seizures, vomiting, and unresponsiveness and was later airlifted to nan Methodist Hospital Northeast for further evaluation."

The origin of decease was not stated and is now nan taxable of nan investigation. ICE routinely conducts investigations into immoderate detainee deaths and publishes them online aft 90 days.

Phan was ordered to beryllium removed from nan state by an migration judge connected April 2, 2012, but an ICE charismatic says they "failed to time off nan U.S. arsenic ordered." Phan was past arrested successful early June this year.

The Karnes installation successful Texas has, astatine times, exceeded its contractual capacity of 928, and erstwhile held 1,311 detainees this fiscal year, according to information obtained by migration researchers astatine Syracuse University.

NBC News contacted ICE and nan Department of Homeland Security for further remark connected whether Phan had a criminal record.

So acold this year, 8 detainees person died while successful ICE custody, according to nan agency's ain figures, including 1 different from Vietnam. The remainder were from Mexico, Haiti, Colombia, Ukraine, Ethiopia, Honduras and Guyana.

In total, 12 detainees died successful ICE custody successful 2024, nan figures show.

The American Civil Liberties Union and different quality authorities groups said in a study past year that astir of nan deaths of group successful ICE custody betwixt 2017 to 2021 could person been prevented if nan agency had provided due aesculapian care.

President Donald Trump's management has made arresting and deporting suspected forbidden aliens a cardinal argumentation of this term, pinch ICE officials told to make thousands of arrests each day.