Just over a month after the death of Prisciliano Trejo Ricano on July 24, after spending at least three weeks in an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center in Georgia, his family is seeking justice because the young man did not receive the medical attention he needed while he was detained.
“Right now, my family is looking for lawyers to work on his case. We don’t believe what happened to him was fair,” Sister Analy Trejo Ricano told Enlace Latino NC .
The young woman attended, accompanied by friends, a vigil held on August 21 in Murfreesboro to remember the people who have dead in ICE custody and express opposition to plans to convert a closed private prison in Winton, in northeastern North Carolina, into an immigrant detention center.
“He made everyone laugh; he was funny; he was a good person. Right now my family is devastated. Today marks one month since he passed away. It seems like it was just yesterday that he left us. My parents haven't gotten over it; they're just coming to terms with it,” Analy said.
Currently, the family is in the process of having Prisciliano's body released to them, hoping to return him to Mexico, the country he left when he was 3 years old. According to Analy, that is his parents' wish.
The young man had completed high school and worked at a welding company. According to his family, he had enrolled in Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).DACA), but did not renew it last year.
Arrest and charges after being involved in a traffic accident
Trejo Ricano was arrested in Durham on the morning of June 19, after being involved in a car accident, after which he received several charges, including drunk driving, hit and run, leaving the scene with property damage, driving without a driver's license and drive in the opposite direction.
He complained of not receiving medical attention
The Durham County Sheriff's Office told Newsweek Trejo Ricano had an immigration detention order and was subsequently turned over to ICE agents on June 25.
The immigrant was taken to the Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia, where he began to feel ill and, in communications with his family via video calls, he expressed the high levels of stress, depression, and illness he was experiencing.
Enlace Latino NC It was reported that on July 10, Prisciliano turned 29 in prison and through his Facebook profile he thanked everyone for their messages and described the dramatic health situation he was going through.
“This week I’ve been dealing with a severe sore throat, coughing up blood in the morning and at night, and very severe migraines, and I still haven’t been treated or given any medication,” she wrote on Facebook.
The case of Prisciliano Trejo Ricano, a young Mexican man who lived in Durham and died in ICE custody, was previously reported by Enlace Latino NC.
He was diagnosed with acute leukemia.
On July 16, his family received a call from his lawyer, who informed them that Prisciliano had been transferred to a hospital in Augusta, Georgia, where he was diagnosed with acute leukemia.
According to his family, the young man died at 6:00 am on July 24, after remaining in immigration custody for at least three weeks.
Trejo Ricano's death adds to the number of at least 55 immigrants who have died in ICE custody during Trump's second term, including 24 this year.
The deaths have raised concerns about the inadequate medical care people receive in ICE detention centers.
Republish our stories for free on your website or newspaper. We follow the Creative Commons license. Click the box and follow the instructions.
