Gerald Lunas Campos, a migrant held at an ICE facility in El Paso County, Texas, died on January 3, after a ‘struggle’ with guards

DHS Assistant Secretary McLaughlin alleged in a statement Thursday night that Campos ‘died after attempting to take his own life’

Preliminary cause of death for the father-of-two who was residing in New York, was listed as ‘asphyxia due to neck and chest compression’

Sources close to the medical Examiners report revealed that the death of the Cuban national, will be ruled ‘homicide’

ME’s reported findings support the account of a fellow inmate who claimed he witnessed Campos being choked to death by guards inside the facility

Campos, a 55-year-old undocumented migrant from Cuba, was a convicted sex offender and had been arrested in New York in July 2025

ICE announced the death of detainee Gerald Lunas Campos on Jan. 3 in a short statement claiming staff ‘observed him in distress’. However, the ME listing preliminary cause of death as ‘asphyxia due to neck and chest compression’, will be rule his death ‘homicide

Newly emerging reports suggest the death of an undocumented migrant held inside an ICE detention camp is likely will be ruled a homicide after a medical examiner determined his cause of death was asphyxia.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced the death of detainee Gerald Lunas Campos inside Camp East Montana on January 3, in a short statement claiming staff ‘observed him in distress.’
A fellow inmate claimed he witnessed Campos being choked to death by guards inside the facility. That allegation reportedly, is supported by the medical examiner’s findings.
An employee from El Paso County’s Office of the Medical Examiner allegedly told the deceased man’s daughter that his death will likely be formally classified as a homicide.
In the conversation, which the daughter recorded, the employee said the doctor is ‘listing the preliminary cause of death as asphyxia due to neck and chest compression.’
The results of a toxicology report are still pending, but the ‘doctor is believing that we’re going to be listing the manner of death as homicide,’ the employee said.
This cause of death suggests Campos failed to get enough oxygen due to pressure on his neck and chest.
By contrast the Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary McLaughlin alleged in a statement Thursday night that Campos died after attempting to take his own life.

Campos was being held at Camp East Montana in El Paso, Texas. along with 3,800 other detainees. The 5,000-capacity detention center is the largest ICE facility in the nation. Campos is the second detainee to die inside the Camp East Montana, one of four to die nationwide in 2026.

‘Campos violently resisted the security staff and continued to attempt to take his life,’ she said. 
‘During the ensuing struggle, Campos stopped breathing and lost consciousness. Medical staff was immediately called and responded.
After repeated attempts to resuscitate him, EMTs declared him deceased on the scene.’
ICE said Lunas Campos has a criminal record in the US and was paroled in 1996
The 55-year-old undocumented migrant from Cuba, was a convicted sex offender and had been arrested in New York in July 2025. Celebrating his arrest at the time, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security laid out Campos’s criminal history, spanning from at least 1997 through October 2015.
His priors include first-degree sexual abuse involving a child under the age of 11, aggravated assault with a weapon, criminal possession of a loaded firearm and the criminal sale of a controlled substance.
Campos reportedly, had been moved to a segregation unit within the detention facility after becoming ‘disruptive’ on the day of his death.
Santos Jesus Flores, a detainee also housed in the segregation unit, is claiming he saw at least five guards locked in a struggle with Campos moments before he expired. Campos he said, had been complaining that he didn’t have access to his medication. That he saw guards ‘choking’ the late detainee.
Flores claims Campos repeatedly said, ‘No puedo respirar’ – Spanish for ‘I can’t breathe.’ 
‘He said, ‘I cannot breathe, I cannot breathe.’ After that, we don’t hear his voice anymore and that’s it,’ Flores said.
Shortly after, Flores said medical staff spent about an hour trying to resuscitate Campos before ultimately taking his body away.

DHS previously laid out Campos’s criminal history, spanning from at least 1997 through October 2015. In his most recent brush with the law, the 55-year-old undocumented migrant from Cuba, a convicted sex offender, had been arrested in New York in July 2025

Campos is the second detainee to die inside the Camp East Montana detention facility, and one of four to die nationwide in 2026.
In 2025, at least 30 people died in detention facilities, the highest annual death count in 20 years.
According to the statement from ICE, staff observed Campos ‘in distress’ and contact medical personnel, who were unable to save his life and pronounced him dead.
No further detail about his cause of death was released in the official statement. However, the Post report cites an internal log detailing the scenes leading up to his death, that makes reference to an ‘immediate’ use of force incident, without no further details.
Camp East Montana, where Campos died currently has a detainee population of 3,800. The camp with the capacity to hold 5000 adults is the largest ICE detention facility in the nation. ICE relies on private detention contractors which are awarded multi-million contracts to run the facilities.
Located in El Paso County, near the border with Mexico, Camp East Montana has faced heavy scrutiny amid claims from migrants of substandard conditions and abuse by guards. 
Jeanette Pagan Lopez, who shared two children with Campos, said she had been contacted by the FBI and that an investigation was underway.
‘The people that physically harmed him should be held accountable,’ she said.
‘I know it’s a homicide.’