Immigrant’s Death in Abusive Georgia ICE Facility Reignites Call for Its Closure

An immigrant detained at an ICE facility in Folkston, Georgia, died on Friday, reigniting calls for the facility to be shut down and an investigation into the center as it faces an ongoing hunger strike protesting abusive conditions.

Luis Sandoval, a 48-year-old from El Salvador, was found with a “ligature around his neck,” according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). According to the agency, facility staff found Sandoval at 1:46 am, and began lifesaving procedures. But he was pronounced dead at 2:28 am.

Sandoval, who was being held in the D. Ray James facility near Folkston, is the 60th known person to die in ICE detention since the beginning of President Donald Trump’s second term. He had only been in the facility for 21 days, having been arrested by ICE and sent to the facility earlier this month.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said that it has been requested to conduct an investigation into Sandoval’s death, per The Guardian, and ICE said that his death is “under investigation,” though it didn’t specify by whom. In a statement about his death, ICE highlighted Sandoval’s alleged criminal history.

Immigrant advocates reiterated calls to shut the facility down in response to Sandoval’s death.

Sandoval “should not have died in a cage owned by a company that gets paid to fill them. GEO Group and ICE have turned the incarceration of people into revenue streams,” said Murtaza Khwaja, the executive director for Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Atlanta. “This system that profits from human suffering will keep producing it. We demand a full independent investigation into Mr. Sandoval’s death, and demand that Folkston Processing Center be shut down permanently.”

The Folkston facility, owned by the notorious GEO Group, is already facing scrutiny over poor conditions. Earlier this month, roughly 500 people at the facility went on hunger strike, and organizers with the Shut Down Folkston Campaign say that 12 people are still maintaining the strike. It’s unclear if Sandoval was a participant.

Those on hunger strike say that they have faced torture, including solitary confinement and force feeding. They are protesting conditions at the facility as well as violations of asylum protocols, advocates have said.

On Monday, Georgia’s U.S. senators, Raphael Warnock (D) and Jon Ossoff (D), demanded an investigation and inspection of the Folkston center in response to the hunger strike.

“We are troubled by reports of medical neglect and retaliation by custodial officers in response to the mass hunger strike,” senators wrote in a letter to Department of Homeland Security officials.

“Reports from local advocates suggest that approximately 500 detainees are now participating in the hunger strike due to facility conditions and that at least thirteen participants have allegedly been placed in solitary confinement in response. If accurate, the use of restrictive housing to penalize individuals for reporting poor conditions would constitute retaliation and an abuse of disciplinary authority,” the lawmakers said.