These are the 17 Mexicans whose ICE-related deaths prompted Mexico to demand accountability

Mexico Seeks Justice After 17 Citizens Perish in US Immigration Enforcement

These are the 17 Mexicans whose – Several Mexican nationals who had built their lives across the border have died during a sweeping immigration campaign. While some residents had spent years working, raising families, and establishing themselves within American communities, others remain known primarily through their identification details and the locations where they passed away. According to official records from Mexico, all seventeen individuals lost their lives amid the intensified immigration operations that began under President Donald Trump’s second administration.

The tragic incidents have significantly strained bilateral relations. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum publicly expressed her nation’s collective grief, emphasizing that the entire country mourned alongside the affected families. In response to these deaths, Mexican authorities initiated legal proceedings on Monday by submitting complaints to both state and federal prosecutors in the United States, requesting thorough criminal investigations into each case. Additionally, cease-and-desist correspondence was dispatched to private corporations operating detention facilities where Mexican nationals had died.

The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) denied that there has been an increase in deaths in its facilities or operations and assured that detained individuals “receive full due process and are provided with proper meals, water, medical treatment, and have opportunities to communicate with their family members and lawyers.”

Official accounts from both Mexican and American authorities indicate that fourteen of the deceased men passed away while under immigration enforcement custody—either within detention centers or at medical institutions where they had been transferred. The remaining three individuals died during active enforcement operations. The latest fatality involves Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a fifty-two-year-old construction laborer who was shot by an ICE officer during a Houston operation last week.

The Department of Homeland Security also refuted allegations that its personnel committed abuses during these incidents. Below is a comprehensive overview of the seventeen cases that prompted Mexico to strengthen its diplomatic response.

Individual Cases of Death in Custody

Abelardo Avellaneda Delgado, aged sixty-eight, passed away on May 5, 2025, during transport from Lowndes County jail to the Stewart Detention Center in Georgia. ICE officials reported that preliminary findings pointed to a medical complication as the cause. The agency noted that he had resided in the United States for decades as an undocumented immigrant and experienced multiple detentions beginning in 1979. Although a judge ordered his deportation in 1990, he subsequently returned to the country. ICE documentation indicates he faced charges spanning from marijuana possession to family violence and child cruelty.

Jesús Molina Veya, forty-five years old, died on June 7, 2025, at the Stewart Detention Center. He was discovered unconscious in his cell with a ligature around his neck before being transported to a hospital where he succumbed to his injuries. According to ICE records, he entered the United States as an undocumented immigrant on multiple occasions and was deported four times. The agency stated he was charged with simple assault, child abuse, and unlawful restraint, serving 827 days in jail for these offenses.

Lorenzo Antonio Batrez Vargas, thirty-two, died on August 31, 2025, while in immigration custody. ICE reported that he suffered from diabetes, contracted Covid-19 during his detention, and developed respiratory complications before being found unresponsive. Resuscitation efforts proved unsuccessful. He entered the US as an undocumented immigrant on an unspecified date. Between 2018 and 2025, he faced multiple detentions related to drug use, possession, and driving under the influence, receiving a ten-day confinement sentence in 2024 for DUI.

Óscar Rascón Duarte, fifty-eight, died on September 8, 2025, at Banner Desert Medical Center in Arizona. ICE documented that he suffered from advanced-stage Alzheimer’s disease, right kidney cancer, and hepatitis C. He entered the United States in 1976 as an undocumented immigrant and was deported in 2004, though he re-entered the country on the same day he was removed to Mexico. Between 1984 and 2000, he faced accusations including burglary, theft, and drug possession. In 2005, he received a twenty-year prison sentence for attempted sexual contact with a minor and child abuse, completing his term in January 2025 when immigration proceedings against him resumed.

Ismael Ayala Uribe, thirty-nine, died on September 22, 2025, in a California hospital following cardiac arrest. According to ICE, the Mexican national, who was hypertensive and exhibited abnormal tachycardia, was referred on September 21 at noon to Victor Valley Global Medical Center for an abscess on his buttock and was