March 24, 2026
Contact: media@haitianbridge.org,  Paige Censale, pcensale@haitianbridge.org

SAN DIEGO, CA—-The Haitian Bridge Alliance (HBA) is outraged by the continued deaths of migrants in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody, including the recent death of a 19-year-old Mexican migrant, Royer Perez-Jimenez, who died while detained in a Florida facility. 

According to reporting, Perez-Jimenez was found unresponsive in the early hours of the morning ,with ICE claiming a “presumed suicide,” though the official cause of death remains under investigation. His death marks yet another life lost inside a system increasingly defined by secrecy, neglect, and a lack of accountability. This tragedy occurred just days after the death of Mohammad Nazeer Paktiawal, a 41-year-old Afghan asylum seeker who had worked with U.S. forces and died shortly after being taken into ICE custody in Texas.

For Haitian Bridge Alliance, this pattern is all too familiar. The death of Emmanuel Damas, a Haitian national who died after being denied adequate medical care while detained, underscores that migrants continue to bear the brunt of this system’s failures.

At least 30–32 people died in ICE detention in 2025.The crisis appears to be continuing into this year. Multiple deaths have already been reported in the early months of 2026, including four migrants died while in U.S. immigration custody, in the first 10 days alone in 2026.  

Statement from Executive Director, Guerline Jozef:

“The United States is operating an immigration detention system where death has become predictable—and accountability remains absent. We cannot accept a system where migrants enter custody alive and leave in body bags. We continue to demand immediate, independent investigations into every death in ICE custody, full transparency, and an end to detention practices that strip people of dignity, care, and basic human rights.”

ABOUT HAITIAN BRIDGE ALLIANCE

Haitian Bridge Alliance (HBA), also known as “The Bridge”, is a grassroots community organization that advocates for fair and humane immigration policies, foreign policy, and provides migrants and immigrants with humanitarian, legal, and social services, with a particular focus on Black migrants, the Haitian community, women and girls, LGBTQIA+ individuals, and survivors of torture and other human rights abuses. HBA also seeks to elevate the issues unique to Black migrants and builds solidarity and collective movement toward policy change. Anpil men chay pa lou (“Many hands make the load light”). Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook: @haitianbridge