Cuban national dies in ICE custody at Georgia facility

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) — Another ICE detainee has died at a Georgia facility, the agency said Friday.

Denny Adan Gonzalez, a 33-year-old undocumented immigrant from Cuba, died on Tuesday. He was being held in Lumpkin’s Stewart Detention Center, about 120 miles southwest of Atlanta.

According to ICE, staff found Gonzalez unresponsive in his cell at around 10:25 p.m. They began life-saving measures until local emergency responders could arrive. Despite their efforts, Gonzalez was pronounced dead at 11:11 p.m.

ICE said Gonzalez’s death is suspected to be suicide, although the official cause remains under investigation.

Gonzalez was arrested in December 2025 by the Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office in Charlotte, North Carolina, for allegedly assaulting a woman and committing domestic violence.

According to ICE, Gonzalez first entered the U.S. near the Hidalgo, Texas, port of entry in May 2019. He was deported in January 2020 but entered again in April 2022, when he was found by border patrol in El Paso, Texas.

Gonzalez was released under a supervision order and reported to ICE in Charlotte. He was taken to the Stewart Detention Center after his December 2025 arrest.

MORE COVERAGE: Man in ICE custody dies at Clayton County facility, Mexican consulate says

Gonzalez isn’t the only person to die in ICE custody in Georgia this year. In January, Heber Sánchez, a Mexican national, died at the Robert A. Deyton Detention Facility in Lovejoy. His case is also a presumed suicide, although no official cause of death has been released.

According to research organization KFF, at least 46 people have died while in ICE custody since January 2025, when President Donald Trump took office for the second time. Thirty-two detainees died in 2025 alone, the highest number in two decades.

In its statement on Gonzalez’s death, ICE said detainees are given health assessments and 24-hour access to emergency care.