A 56-year-old father of three who died in Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention over the weekend was a lawful permanent resident, The Texas Tribune reported Monday.
Emiliano Andrade-Covarrubias was found unconscious in his bed Saturday morning at the Rio Grande Processing Center. ICE had detained Andrade-Covarrubias on June 26, as he was returning to Texas from Mexico through the port of entry in Laredo. The agency claimed that he’d failed to disclose a prior arrest when applying for his green card in 2004.
Andrade-Covarrubias’s daughter, Estefani Andrade, told the Tribune that her father had disclosed his criminal record during his application process and was still approved. Andrade-Covarrubias was scheduled to appear at an immigration court hearing on November 2.
As of Monday, his cause of death was still unknown.
Andrade told the Tribune that her father had a heart condition, diabetes, high blood pressure, and experienced a lasting toll from being hospitalized with Covid-19 in 2021. She claimed that staff at the processing center had refused to give him his medication, and that when her father began reporting symptoms, such as a persistent cough, difficulty breathing, and tightness across the chest, medical personnel “would just ignore him.”
In a statement, ICE claimed that Andrade-Covarrubias received proper medical care.
A Bloomberg Law investigation concluded that 37 people died in ICE custody between October 2025 and September 2026, marking the fiscal year 2026 as the deadliest in the agency’s recorded history.
Under the Trump administration, ICE has subjected tens of thousands of people—including U.S. citizens, lawful immigrants, and immigrants with no criminal convictions—to overcrowded rooms, unsanitary conditions, and insufficient food and water. Immigrants have been denied adequate medical care and legal counsel, and were even locked in cages.