A 19-year-old Mexican national has died while detained at a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Florida, marking the youngest fatality in immigration custody since the reinstatement of Trump administration policies. Royer Perez-Jimenez was discovered unresponsive in his cell at Glades County Detention Center on March 16th at approximately 2:34 AM local time.
Despite immediate resuscitation attempts by prison staff, Perez-Jimenez was pronounced dead in what ICE officials preliminarily described as a presumed suicide. The agency emphasized that the official cause of death remains under active investigation. According to detention records, the deceased had been arrested in January on charges of impersonation fraud and misdemeanor resisting arrest, having entered the United States illegally at an unspecified date.
ICE maintains that during initial intake procedures, Perez-Jimenez denied any behavioral health concerns and provided negative responses to all suicide screening questions. This incident has triggered diplomatic repercussions, with the Mexican government formally demanding a comprehensive investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death, characterizing such fatalities as ‘unacceptable.’
The tragedy occurs against the backdrop of intensified immigration enforcement, with advocacy group Detention Watch Network reporting over 42 migrant deaths in custody since January 2025. This figure notably exceeds the 24 custody-related deaths recorded throughout the entire previous four-year presidential term. Recent enforcement operations have additionally resulted in multiple migrant fatalities and the controversial shooting deaths of two US citizens during a Minnesota raid.