(Adnkronos) – A 19-year-old Mexican migrant has died in a detention center in Florida. Ice announced this in a note sent to deputies, stating that “it is presumed to have been a suicide,” but adding that “the official cause of death remains under investigation.” Royer Perez-Jimenez was found “unresponsive and unconscious” shortly after 2 a.m. on March 16 in his cell at the Glades County Detention Center, the note adds, stating that the center’s staff “immediately” tried to resuscitate him.
According to American media, Perez-Jimenez is the youngest of the 44 immigrants who have died in Ice detention centers since Trump’s return to the White House and the launch of his massive campaign of mass detentions and deportations. According to federal authorities, the boy had entered the States in February 2022 and then voluntarily accepted repatriation. He then re-entered the United States and last January was arrested in Florida on charges of fraud and resisting a public official and was transferred to Ice custody last February.
The Mexican government has called the young man’s death “unacceptable” and has asked “immigration authorities to conduct a prompt and full investigation to clarify the circumstances that led to his death.” And today, President Claudia Sheinbaum also commented on the matter: “this cannot happen, the report says the young man committed suicide, but we want a full investigation,” she said, recalling that two other Mexican citizens have died in Ice detention centers in recent months.
