Authorities have reported the death of an immigrant in ICE custody in a Natchez, Mississippi hospital, capping off the deadliest year for detained immigrants in the United States in over 20 years.
Delvin Francisco Rodriguez, 39, an immigrant from Nicaragua, was declared dead following a “failed test to determine brain function.” Previously, Rodriguez was detained at the Adams County Correctional Center. Rodriguez was taken from the detention center on Dec. 4 after what ICE called “an emergency medical call” where he did not respond to staff and did not have a pulse. Rodriguez was declared dead on Dec.14 at Merit Health Natchez.
December has been particularly deadly for immigrants in ICE detention. Rodriguez’s death is one of the seven reported this month alone—as ICE has yet to update its own detainee death tracker since Sept. 22, 2025, it is unclear if any further deaths have been missed.
The Adams County Correctional Facility is a detention center located just a few miles outside Natchez, MS, with a total average daily population of 2,244. Roughly nine in 10 immigrants detained at the center have not been charged with a crime.
ICE reports Rodriguez was detained twice before his death in the agency’s custody, first on June 9, 2018, near Menagers Dam Village in Arizona, where he was given an expedited removal order and released on bond. On Sept. 25 of this year, Rodriguez was arrested in Dillon, Colorado, and scheduled to be removed to Nicaragua only a day before his eventual death.
In 2024, an ACLU investigation of 52 deaths between 2017 and 2021 concluded that “independent medical experts found that 95 percent of deaths in detention were deemed as being preventable or possibly preventable if ICE had provided clinically appropriate medical care.”
In its statement, ICE contends that consistent and quality medical care is provided to all detainees. “Comprehensive medical care is provided from the moment individuals arrive and throughout the entirety of their stay. All illegal aliens in ICE custody receive medical, dental and mental health intake screening within 12 hours of arriving at each detention facility; a full health assessment within 14 days of entering ICE custody or arrival at a facility; access to medical appointments, and 24-hour emergency care. At no time during ICE detention is an alien denied emergent care,” the statement reads.
But independent investigations have found dangerous conditions at numerous immigrant detention facilities across the United States, including physical and sexual abuse, as well as unsafe and filthy living conditions.
In October, the Mississippi Youth Media Project first reported a case in which immigrants at the Central Louisiana ICE Processing Center in Jena, Louisiana say they were sickened by unsafe drinking water.