A Venezuelan man has become the 22nd person to die in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody this year, officials announced on Wednesday. Jesús Manuel Arenas-Silva, 45, died on Monday morning while being transferred between detention facilities in Georgia.
Details of the Incident
According to an ICE press release, Arenas-Silva was arrested last Thursday and had been detained at the Irwin County Detention Center, a privately run facility in Georgia. He was being transferred to the Folkston ICE Processing Center when he was found unresponsive in a transport bus. ICE stated that the suspected cause of death was cardiac arrest.
Recent Spike in ICE Custody Deaths
Arenas-Silva's death comes amid a surge in fatalities under ICE custody. Since January 2025, a record number of detainees have died, with 33 deaths reported in 2025 alone—the highest total in over two decades. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees ICE, faces renewed calls for accountability after three other individuals died in the past week during enforcement actions.
Last week, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was shot and killed by an ICE official in Texas. This week, Joan Sebastián Durán Guerrero was shot and killed by ICE officials in Maine. On Tuesday, another man died during an ICE enforcement operation after fleeing officials and being struck by a semi-truck.
Arenas-Silva's Immigration History
Arenas-Silva entered the U.S. in 2021 and encountered border patrol officials in California days later. An immigration judge in Atlanta ordered his removal to Venezuela in April. ICE arrested him last week during a targeted enforcement action in Dallas, Georgia. After being found unresponsive on the transport bus, staff called for medical assistance and transported him to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Irwin County Detention Center Controversies
The Irwin County Detention Center, where Arenas-Silva was held, resumed detaining immigrants last year after its contract with ICE was terminated in 2021 by the Biden administration. The termination followed a whistleblower complaint from a nurse alleging medical abuse. In 2020, the facility gained notoriety for allegations that female detainees were subjected to non-consensual gynecological procedures. A 2022 Senate subcommittee investigation found that female detainees appeared to have been subjected to excessive, invasive, and often unnecessary gynecological procedures.
Broader Context and International Concern
Arenas-Silva's death follows that of Adrian Andreas Florian, an 85-year-old German man, who died in ICE custody in Texas in late June. The rising number of deaths in ICE custody has drawn international concern. In late June, Volker Türk, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, raised the alarm and called for prompt, independent, impartial, and effective investigations into deaths in U.S. government immigration custody.
