Miami, FL – June 30, 2025 — A 75-year-old Cuban man, Isidro Pérez, died in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody after being held at the Krome Detention Center in Miami. His death, which occurred on June 26 at a local hospital, is the third at the facility this year and the twelfth nationwide in ICE custody since January.
According to an ICE press release, Pérez was hospitalized after experiencing chest pains and was later pronounced dead at HCA Florida Kendall Hospital. The official cause of death remains under investigation.
Pérez arrived in the U.S. in 1966 under the Cuban Adjustment Act and had lived in South Florida for decades. ICE notes that he had a drug-related conviction in the 1980s.
He was arrested on June 5 in Key Largo during a law enforcement operation and deemed “inadmissible” under U.S. immigration law, shortly after the Supreme Court upheld a Trump administration order to revoke humanitarian protections for more than 500,000 migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela.
After being transferred to Krome on June 6, Pérez was diagnosed with several medical conditions. He was first hospitalized on June 17 for chest pain and discharged on June 25. The following day, he reported similar symptoms and was rushed to the hospital after emergency responders administered CPR and defibrillation. He was declared dead later that evening.
Pérez is the third individual to die this year at Krome, a facility long plagued by complaints of overcrowding and inadequate medical care. In January, 29-year-old Genry Ruiz-Guillen of Honduras died at the facility due to complications from schizoaffective disorder. In February, 44-year-old Ukrainian detainee Maksym Chernyak also died in custody. His widow later told NBC 6 that she believes he did not receive sufficient care when he became ill.
The pattern of deaths extends beyond Krome. In April, 44-year-old Haitian woman Marie Ange Blaise died at the Broward Transitional Center in Pompano Beach. More recently, on June 23, 49-year-old Canadian national Johnny Noviello died at the Federal Detention Center in downtown Miami after six weeks in ICE detention. His cause of death is still unclear, and Canadian consular officials have launched an inquiry.
The recent deaths come as ICE intensifies immigration enforcement operations nationwide under pressure from former President Donald Trump. With existing detention centers overwhelmed, federal facilities like the downtown Miami jail are increasingly being used to hold immigration detainees, despite being designed for pretrial criminal defendants.
Advocacy groups and immigrant rights organizations have long raised concerns about conditions at ICE facilities, calling for more oversight and medical accountability.
As investigations into Pérez’s death continue, questions are growing about the safety and transparency of the U.S. immigration detention system, particularly for elderly and medically vulnerable individuals.
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