Nicaraguan migrant who died in ICE custody had been recommended for release, advocates say
A Nicaraguan migrant who died in immigration custody last week had been recommended for release by an ICE panel last year, advocates said Thursday.
A Nicaraguan migrant who died in immigration custody last week had been recommended for release by an ICE panel last year but remained detained until his death, advocates said Thursday.
Ernesto Rocha-Cuadra, 42, died Friday at a hospital in Jena, Louisiana, Immigration and Customs Enforcement said in a statement this week. The preliminary cause of death “was reported by hospital medical officials to be cardiac arrest,” it said.
An ICE panel recommended that Rocha-Cuadra be released in November, a coalition of immigration advocacy groups said in a statement Thursday. The statement said officials at the detention center declined to release him.
From left, Frank Rocha-Cuadra, and his brother Ernesto Rocha-Cuadra. Ernesto died while in ICE custody last week.Courtesy Rocha-Cuadra family“They kept telling him he was going to be released soon,” Frank Rocha-Cuadra, who is Ernesto’s brother and a U.S. citizen, said in the statement from the Shut Down NOLA ICE Coalition. “He was guaranteed he was coming home. Our message is, we want to know what happened to our Ernesto and we will not stop until we find out.”
The coalition said that according to Rocha-Cuadra’s attorneys, he had been petitioning for his freedom and was scheduled for an immigration hearing July 9.
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