Mexico to File Complaint on 17 Oct ICE Death

MEXICO · MIGRATION

Mexico will file a complaint with the Webb County prosecutor in Texas over the death of a Mexican man in federal immigration detention in Laredo, its foreign ministry announced on Sunday 18 October and President Claudia Sheinbaum confirmed on Monday 19 October. ICE, the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, says the man was 56, held a green card and had been in its custody since 26 June, and Mexico counts him as the 18th Mexican to die in US custody or during immigration operations since 20 January 2025.

For US readers the case raises three live questions: how ICE cares for the people it detains, what Congress can learn about deaths in custody, and how far a green card protects a traveller coming home from abroad. It also renews a request Mexico has pressed since April, when Sheinbaum ordered daily consular visits to ICE centres: that its consuls be let into US detention centres to check on detainees’ health, which the foreign ministry says it will raise through its embassy in Washington.

What Happened in Laredo

ICE says staff found the man unresponsive in his bed at 9:48 a.m. local time on Saturday 17 October at the Rio Grande Processing Center, began life-saving measures and called the Laredo Fire Department’s paramedics. He was declared dead at 10:10 a.m., according to ICE’s statement as quoted by KGNS, the Laredo television station.

ICE confirmed the death of Emiliano Andrade-Covarrubias to KGNS, and Congressman Henry Cuellar, a Democrat who represents Laredo, had confirmed it to the Texas Tribune. Mexico’s foreign ministry, known as the SRE, did not publish his name.

The Rio Grande Processing Center stands at 1001 San Rio Boulevard in Laredo and is listed by ICE under its Harlingen field office. The GEO Group, the company that operates it, referred the Texas Tribune’s questions to ICE.

His daughter, Estefani Andrade, a US citizen, told the Texas Tribune that her father had lived in Dallas for decades, worked as a contractor painting apartments, and had a heart condition, diabetes and high blood pressure. She said staff at the centre would not give him his medications, and that when he reported a cough and chest tightness he told her “they would just ignore him.”

What Mexico Says and Will Do

At her morning news conference at the National Palace, Sheinbaum said another Mexican had died in a detention centre and that Mexico would file a complaint in the United States because human rights must be protected. She said the man was detained in June, that his family had told Mexican officials he had diabetes and high blood pressure, and that he probably did not have all his medication.

The SRE issued its own statement on Sunday 18 October, demanding a prompt, thorough and transparent investigation. It said ICE’s local office had told Mexico’s consulate general in Laredo of the death and that the complaint would go to the Webb County prosecutor.

The ministry added that it has sent diplomatic notes to the US State Department, filed other complaints and arranged legal help for families. Through Mexico’s embassy in Washington it will ask US immigration authorities to guarantee consuls access to detention centres, so they can demand proper health care for detained Mexicans.

Laredo is not Mexico’s first legal step. On 13 July Mexico’s ambassador in Washington, Roberto Lazzeri, filed 20 complaints with state and county prosecutors in eight states over 17 deaths of Mexicans in immigration operations or custody, the SRE said on 22 July.

On 14 July the embassy also passed Mexico’s federal prosecutor’s complaint on those 17 cases to the US Justice Department through the State Department, and Foreign Secretary Roberto Velasco Álvarez wrote to the UN human rights chief, Volker Türk. In June Velasco told reporters the United States had given Mexico no updates on the deaths, KJZZ, a public radio station in Arizona, reported.

Texas Deaths and the Wider Toll

The Texas Tribune counts Andrade-Covarrubias as the seventh person to die in ICE detention in Texas this year and the second at an ICE facility in Laredo. The earlier Laredo death was that of Felix Alcorta-Rodriguez, a 63-year-old Mexican who died on 19 June at the Webb County Detention Center, which is run by CoreCivic.

Nationwide, the Texas Tribune counted at least 20 deaths in ICE custody in 2026 by 24 June, after 32 in 2025, a record in federal data. Families of other Latin American detainees are asking similar questions, as in the case of a Peruvian man who died in ICE custody in Louisiana on 29 September.

TRAC, a data project that compiles ICE figures, shows in its latest snapshot, dated 11 July, 65,765 people in ICE detention, 70.6 percent of them with no criminal conviction. Mexico’s foreign secretary put the number of Mexicans in US immigration detention at about 14,000 in June, KJZZ reported.

What It Means for You

If you hold a green card and travel to Mexico, this case shows how long a detention at the border can last. ICE says officers detained Andrade-Covarrubias on 26 June at a Laredo port of entry because they believed he obtained his status by fraud, having failed to disclose a 2004 theft arrest, and that he was in removal proceedings.

His daughter told the Texas Tribune that he had disclosed his record and that officials approved his green-card application. Online court records showed an immigration hearing set for Monday 2 November, the Tribune reported.

On Tuesday 23 June the Supreme Court ruled, in the case of a green-card holder named Muk Choi Lau, that a border officer does not need clear and convincing evidence that a returning permanent resident committed a crime involving moral turpitude before treating that person as an applicant for admission. ICE has not said whether the ruling played any part in this detention.

Consular access is a treaty right, and Mexico and the United States are both parties to the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. Article 36 lets consular officers visit a national in custody, speak with him and arrange his legal representation, and Article 37 says the host state must tell the consulate without delay of a death.

Congress is already asking questions. Cuellar visited the Rio Grande Processing Center on Sunday, was told staff could not give details because the death is under investigation, and sent ICE written questions, adding in a Monday statement: “Any death in federal custody is a serious matter, and we need to know what happened.”

In its death notices, such as the one of 8 May 2025, ICE says it posts a news release within two business days of a death and that congressional requirements in the 2018 homeland security spending bill oblige it to make public every report on an in-custody death within 90 days. If the clock runs from the death on 17 October, that would be Friday 15 January 2027.

What Is Not Known

The cause of death is not officially settled. ICE’s statement says it is unknown pending an autopsy, while KGNS reported that the Webb County medical examiner called it a natural death after an autopsy on 19 October, a finding the Texas Tribune’s account of ICE’s statement does not include.

It is not known whether ICE or the GEO Group will answer the daughter’s account of his medication and medical requests. ICE says he received medical care and was seen by health professionals, and that it is committed to safe, secure and humane conditions for everyone in custody.

No US prosecutor or Justice Department response to Mexico’s planned complaint had been published by late Monday. It is also not known whether any of the 20 complaints filed in July has led to an investigation.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who died in ICE detention in Laredo?

ICE confirmed the name Emiliano Andrade-Covarrubias, a 56-year-old Mexican citizen who held lawful permanent resident status. He was found unresponsive on Saturday 17 October at the Rio Grande Processing Center and declared dead at 10:10 a.m.

What will Mexico do about it?

Mexico’s foreign ministry announced on Sunday 18 October that it will send a complaint to the Webb County prosecutor, and President Claudia Sheinbaum confirmed on Monday 19 October that Mexico will file a complaint in the United States. The ministry also says Mexico will ask for consular access to detention centres.

How many Mexicans have died in US custody?

Mexico’s foreign ministry counts 18 Mexicans who died in US custody or during immigration operations since 20 January 2025. The Texas Tribune counts this as the seventh death in ICE detention in Texas in 2026.

Can Mexico visit its citizens in US detention?

The Vienna Convention on Consular Relations gives consular officers the right to visit a national in custody and arrange his legal representation. Mexico says it will ask US immigration authorities to guarantee that access in its detention centres.

When will ICE publish its death report?

ICE says congressional requirements oblige it to make public every report on an in-custody death within 90 days. If the clock runs from the death on 17 October, that is Friday 15 January 2027.

Sources: Texas Tribune, death at the Rio Grande Processing Center in Laredo, 18 October 2026, Texas Tribune via KSAT, ICE statement on lawful permanent resident, 19 October 2026, KGNS, man dies at Laredo ICE facility, 19 October 2026, Univision San Antonio, ICE details on the death, October 2026, SinEmbargo, Sheinbaum and SRE statement, 19 October 2026, Infobae Mexico, SRE demands clarification, 19 October 2026, El Imparcial, SRE actions, 19 October 2026, Zeta Tijuana, daily consular visits ordered, 14 April 2026, Zeta Tijuana, 20 complaints for 17 deaths, 22 July 2026, UnoTV, 20 complaints for 17 deaths, 22 July 2026, KJZZ, 14,000 Mexican nationals in detention, 11 June 2026, Texas Public Radio, Laredo death and national toll, 24 June 2026, ICE, Rio Grande Processing Center, ICE, detainee death release of 8 May 2025, on notification and 90-day reporting, US Supreme Court, Blanche v. Lau, 23 June 2026, UN, Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, 1963, TRAC, immigration detention quick facts. All retrieved 19 and 20 October 2026. The SRE statement and the President’s remarks are cited as carried by the outlets above; the original pages could not be opened. ICE’s own statement on this death is cited as quoted by the Texas Tribune, KGNS and Univision.

Editorial responsibility: Matthias Camenzind, Editor-in-Chief · Editorial standards · Report an error

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