Cuban immigrant died in ICE custody in Georgia, notice to US lawmakers says

WASHINGTON - A Cuban immigrant died in U.S. immigration custody in Georgia in what authorities suspect was a suicide, U.S. officials said in a notice to lawmakers sent on Friday and reviewed by Reuters.

Denny Adan Gonzalez, 33, was found unresponsive in his cell at the Stewart Detention Center on April 28 and pronounced dead less than an hour later, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said in the notice.

President Donald Trump, a Republican, has pushed to detain many more immigrants as part of his mass deportation effort. The number of people detained by ICE has grown from 40,000 when Trump took office in 2025 to 60,000, with detention poised to expand further this year.

Deaths of immigrants in ICE custody reached a two-decade high last year and are on pace to climb higher this year, with 18 deaths through the first four months of the year.

(Reporting by Ted Hesson in Washington; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Nia Williams)

Copyright Reuters or USA Today Network via Reuters Connect.

This story was originally published May 1, 2026 at 7:23 AM.