FILE – A federal agent wears an Immigration and Customs Enforcement badge in New York on June 10, 2025.
Yuki Iwamura/AP
hide caption
toggle caption
Yuki Iwamura/AP
MIAMI – A 19-year-old Mexican immigrant has died in a Florida county jail that holds immigrant detainees, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
According to ICE, Royer Pérez-Jimenez “died by apparent suicide”, although the official cause of death remains under investigation.
Perez-Jimenez’s death on Monday is the 46th death recorded under Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody since the beginning of President Donald Trump’s administration in January 2025, according to an Associated Press count.
Pérez-Jimenez is the second person to die in ICE custody this week, after an Afghan immigrant — whose family said he was deported from his country after working for years with the U.S. military — died in a Texas hospital after being detained by immigration officials.
Since the beginning of the year, 13 immigrants have died in ICE custody. Pérez-Jimenez is the youngest to do so since the beginning of Trump’s second term.
The District 21 medical examiner’s office did not respond to the AP’s request for the autopsy report. The Florida prosecutor’s office referred any requests for information to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Attorney General’s office.
The Mexican government said in a statement Thursday that such deaths in immigration detention are “unacceptable” and called for a prompt and thorough U.S. investigation to prevent a recurrence. Consular officials in Miami visited the facility where Pérez-Jimenez was being held and asked authorities for documents regarding the case.
Pérez-Jimenez’s death sparked condemnation in the immigrant community.
“The immigration detention system deprives people of liberty, separates people from their loved ones and puts people in extremely poor conditions,” said Carly Perez Fernandez, communications director for the Detention Watch Network, a national coalition that advocates against immigrant detention.
ICE said an officer found Perez-Jimenez “unconscious and unresponsive” at 2:34 a.m. Monday at the Glades County Detention Center in Moore Haven, a facility that was closed by President Joe Biden’s administration and reopened by the Trump administration. Moore Haven is about 55 miles (90 kilometers) northeast of Fort Myers.
ICE said officers who found Pérez-Jimenez “immediately” called a medical emergency at the hostel, and staff began cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Two medical personnel arrived a few minutes later and found Pérez-Jimenez without a pulse before the arrival of fire rescue personnel, who “initiated life-saving interventions.”
ICE said Pérez-Jimenez was pronounced dead at 2:51 a.m., 17 minutes after he was found dead.
According to ICE, the Mexican teen was arrested on January 22 by sheriff’s officers in Volusia County, a rural area located in east-central Florida, and charged with felony counts of impersonation and resisting an officer. He was transferred to ICE custody a month later.
The AP requested Royer Perez-Jimenez’s arrest report from the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office, which provided the full name and arrest date listed in the ICE press release. The Volusia County Sheriff’s Office responded that it searched its systems, and Perez-Jimenez does not appear in it.
Florida is one of the states that agrees most with the Trump administration on immigration matters and is home to some of the most famous immigrant detention centers, such as the South Florida Detention Facility, also known as Alligator Alcatraz, and the Chrome North Service Processing Center. Some detainees have reported finding insects in their food, toilets not functioning and dirty water flowing from them.
Prolonged detentions have become common nationwide during Trump’s current term. This is partly due to a new policy that generally prevents immigration judges from releasing detainees while their deportation cases make their way through overburdened courts.
<a href