/ Modified jul 23, 2024 4:41 p.m.

New report: Detained immigrant deaths were preventable

A new report published by the ACLU found that immigrant deaths in ICE detention centers were largely caused by lack of oversight and systemic failures, including two deaths in Arizona.

Florence detainees spot immigration

The report “Deadly Failures: Preventable Deaths in U.S. Immigrant Detention” says that the Department of Homeland Security failed to conduct rigorous investigations, impose meaningful consequences, or improve conditions that it says caused immigrant deaths while in ICE detention.

The report highlights two deaths in Arizona facilities, including a 54-year-old Emigdio Abel Reyes Clemente from Mexico, who died in 2019 in ICE’s Florence Processing Center, after experiencing significant upper respiratory symptoms which the report says was caused by undiagnosed and untreated bacterial pneumonia.

The report says medical staff made incorrect or incomplete diagnoses in 42 of the 52 deaths reviewed.

ICE did not immediately respond to request for comment.

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