U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has reported the 18th death of a person in its custody in the first four months of 2026, placing the agency on pace to surpass its all-time annual record for detainee deaths.
On Friday, ICE filed a congressional notification informing Congress of the death of Denny Adan Gonzalez, a 33-year-old Cuban immigrant who was found unresponsive Tuesday night in his cell at the Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia, ICE said. His death was first reported by Andrew Free, an independent journalist and attorney who runs a Substack titled “#DetentionKills.”
The agency said the suspected cause of death is suicide, though the official cause remains under investigation. Gonzalez was reportedly pronounced dead less than an hour after he was found. Stewart is operated by CoreCivic, a private prison company that contracts with ICE.
CoreCivic spokesperson Ryan Gustin told Reuters that medical staff responded promptly and began lifesaving measures. Gustin added that “We are deeply saddened by and take very seriously the passing of any individual in our care.”
ICE recorded 31 detainee deaths in 2025, a two-decade high that nearly matched the agency’s record of 32 deaths in 2004. With 18 deaths already reported through April, 2026 is now on pace to exceed both.
ICE said Gonzalez first entered the United States at a Texas port of entry in May 2019, was deemed “inadmissible,” and was deported in January 2020. The agency said he reentered the country in 2022 and was later arrested in Charlotte, North Carolina, on assault and domestic violence charges before ICE took him into custody in January.
The death adds pressure to an agency already facing intense scrutiny over detention conditions under President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. Reuters reported that ICE detention has grown from about 40,000 people when Trump took office in 2025 to about 60,000, while ICE budget documents said the agency aims to detain an average of 99,000 immigrants in fiscal years 2026 and 2027.
CBS News reported that the agency’s detention population surpassed 70,000 earlier this year before declining, but remained higher than under any prior administration. The outlet also found that 2025 had the highest ICE custody death rate since 2020, when COVID-19 hit detention centers.
Gonzalez’s death marks the latest incident at Stewart, the rural Georgia facility that has long drawn criticism from attorneys, lawmakers, and federal investigators over allegations involving medical care and solitary confinement.
The Guardian reported that Gonzalez is the fourth person to die by suicide inside Stewart. “As tragedies mount at Stewart, we renew our call for this deadly prison to be shut down,” Azadeh Shahshahani, legal and advocacy director of Project South, told The Guardian. “Instead of taking steps to dismantle this prison, ICE is doubling down.”
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