Calls for investigation, transparency after immigrant death at Stewart Detention Center
Immigration advocates are pushing for an investigation into a death at the Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia, last month, as U.S. Sens. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) and Raphael Warnock (D-GA) are pushing for more transparency in the reporting of deaths of people in custody.
Denny Adan Gonzalez, a 33-year-old from Cuba, died at the Stewart Detention Center while in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody, according to a May 1 news release from ICE.
Gonzalez was found unresponsive in his cell around 10:25 p.m. on April 28, the news release says, and he was pronounced dead at 11:11 p.m. The official cause of death is under investigation, according to ICE, but the suspected cause of death is suicide.
He entered the United States in May 2019 and was ordered to be deported by an immigration judge in December 2019. Gonzalez reentered in April 2022, was released under an order of supervision and reported to ICE in Charlotte, North Carolina, until September 2025.
Last December, he was detained by ICE after a domestic violence incident, according to the news release.
Gonzalez was reportedly in solitary confinement at the time of his death, according to a May 4 news release from Detention Watch Network, a national coalition of advocates working to abolish immigration detention.
This was the 18th death of someone in ICE custody in 2026, according to the network, and the 49th death since President Donald Trump began his second term.
Stewart Detention Center is one of the largest ICE detention centers in the country, according to the network, and has an average daily population of over 2,000 people.
Conditions at the detention center have been criticized for years. Ossoff’s office interviewed detainees at Stewart as part of an investigation into human rights abuses in immigration detention centers.
The Detention Watch Network called for a full, independent investigation into the circumstances surrounding Gonzalez’s death and the use of force at Stewart.
“The detention system is killing our community,” Amilcar Valencia, executive director of Lumpkin-based El Refugio, said in a news release. “Action is needed now; we can’t allow more people to be put at risk.”
Ossoff, Warnock call for better reporting
On April 13, Ossoff and Warnock sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin and ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons, expressing concern about “ICE’s improper failure to report certain deaths in custody.”
Fiscal Year 2026 matched the record for the deadliest fiscal year in the agency’s history, according to the senators’ letter. NPR reported April 17 that 29 people have died in ICE custody since October, the start of the federal government’s fiscal year, already surpassing 2004’s toll of 28, the previous record.
ICE is required to post an interim notice of any detainee death within 48 hours, the letter says.
“In a September 2025 letter, we noted that ICE had repeatedly failed to meet that deadline,” the Ossoff and Warnock letter says.
The Georgia senators also claimed the agency failed to publish death reports within a 90-day window in at least eight cases. Additionally, they said the reports have less information than prior reports, leaving out biographical details or comprehensive immigration, criminal or medical histories.
Reports have been reduced to a synopsis of events and a brief immigration history, Warnock and Ossoff said in the letter.
“These changes also raise concerns that ICE may not be sufficiently investigating detainee deaths,” the letter says. “ICE and DHS are responsible for conducting thorough investigations into any deaths in their custody, to prevent further losses of life.”
Warnock and Ossoff asked the secretaries to respond with more information about how deaths are investigated, reported and the reasons for changes to the process.
“Timely and accurate reporting of deaths in custody is critical to ensuring families receive the information they deserve about their loved ones, facilitating proper oversight, and preventing further death,” the letter says.
Enforcement and Removal Operations notified DHS, the DHS Office of Inspector General and the ICE Office of Professional Responsibility via the Integrity Coordination Center of Gonzalez’s death, according to the news release from ICE. The Cuban Embassy and his designated contact or next of kin were also notified, the news release says.
“ICE is committed to ensuring that all those in custody reside in safe, secure, and humane environments,” the news release says. “Comprehensive medical care is provided from the moment individuals arrive and throughout their stay. All people in ICE custody receive medical, dental, and mental health intake screenings within 12 hours of arriving at each detention facility; a full health assessment within 14 days of entering ICE custody or arriving at a facility; access to medical appointments; and 24-hour emergency care. At no time during detention is a detained noncitizen denied emergency care.”
