A man from El Salvador being held in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody in South Georgia has died by an apparent suicide, the agency announced over the weekend.
Luis Sandoval, 48, was being held at the Folkston D. Ray ICE Processing Center along the Georgia-Florida border.
Around 2 a.m. on Friday, facility staff found Sandoval with a ligature mark around his neck and immediately began life-saving measures, according to the agency. Additional medical personnel from Charlton County responded to the facility and continued lifesaving actions, but Sandoval was later pronounced dead.
"Sandoval's death is under investigation. An autopsy will be conducted to determine the official cause and manner of death," ICE officials said.
Sandoval arrived
at the Folkston facility on Oct. 8 and was awaiting his first removal hearing. It's unknown when Sandoval entered the country, but he was arrested by ICE Newark on Oct. 2 following convictions for aggravated assault, making terroristic threats, receiving stolen property, and theft by unlawful taking with an additional charge for drug possession, according to ICE.
Georgia detainee death adds to growing number in 2026
Sandoval adds to a growing list of detainee deaths in ICE custody.
His death is the 24th to be reported on ICE's official count in 2026. He is also the fifth detainee to die in Georgia under the second Trump Administration. Two detainees have died at the Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, and two have died during transfers, according to ICE records.
Another detainee from Stewart Detention Center died just days after being released.
Since the Trump Administration came back into power, 34 detainee deaths have been reported by ICE, a major increase from previous years.
Folkston detainees on hunger strike
The death comes amid an ongoing hunger strike among detainees at the Folkston facility, a site with a reputation of abuse and neglect among ICE's detention centers.
In an open letter signed by 45 detainees and obtained by WABE, men from inside the facility say many of them were seeking asylum and some have been detained for as long as 32 months.
"During this time, some of us have lost family members while being held here. Many of us have been separated from our families — from parents, brothers, sisters, wives, and children. We have missed births, funerals, years of our lives while sitting behind fences without having committed any crime. While we are separated from the rest of the world in a place where every day is the same, the world continues to move forward without us," the letter read.
The detainees, who come from countries like Russia, Nepal, China and others, said the facility is "worse than prison" and while detention is intended to be temporary, they have been held for years.
"Prison is meant to be a punishment for people who have committed crimes. Yet we are just asylum seekers who came asking for protection. We fled political persecution, religious persecution, or violence in our home countries. We came here hoping to find safety. Instead, we found ourselves in prison," the detainees wrote.
An ICE spokesperson said 13 people were on hunger strike, as of Oct. 16, but immigrant rights groups estimate the actual number could be closer to 500 detainees.
Irene Wright covers politics in Georgia as the Atlanta Connect reporter with USA Today’s Deep South Connect team. Find her on X @IreneEWright or email her at ismith@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Undocumented immigrant dies in Georgia detention facility, ICE says
