|

A 56-year-old Mexican man held at a federal immigration facility in Laredo was found dead in his cell Saturday morning, his daughter and U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, confirmed to The Texas Tribune.

Emiliano Andrade-Covarrubias was found unresponsive by staff at the Rio Grande Processing Center during a security check at around 10 a.m. Saturday, Cuellar said. Staff performed CPR and called emergency services.

Andrade-Covarrubias is the seventh person to die while detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Texas this year — the first being Geraldo Lunas Campos, whose death was ruled a homicide by the El Paso Medical Examiner’s office in January.

He’s also the second to die in an ICE facility in Laredo this year. Felix Alcorta-Rodriguez, a 63-year-old Mexican who was being held at Webb County Detention Center, died on June 19 after being found unresponsive, according to the agency.

The GEO Group, which operates the facility, referred the Tribune to ICE. Officials with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to requests for comment sent Sunday and Monday.

Andrade-Covarrubias’ daughter, Estefani Andrade, told the Tribune that her family has not yet been contacted by federal agencies. Instead, she said, they heard about his death on Saturday through the Webb County Medical Examiner, which is performing his autopsy.

Estefani Andrade, 29 and a U.S. citizen, said the family is going to visit the detention facility on Monday to get his belongings.

Andrade-Covarrubias lived in Dallas for decades, had three adult children who were all born in the country and worked as a contractor painting apartments and townhomes, his daughter said. He wanted to eventually return to Mexico and had been travelling back and forth to build a house there, his daughter added.

She said her dad was detained in June at the border after coming back from Mexico by bus. She added that during his months in detention, “he lost weight because he didn’t look the same as when we were doing, like, the video calls with him.”

Cuellar said he planned to visit the facility Sunday afternoon.

“I’ll ask the basic questions: What happened?” he said. “What were the conditions? [Was] there medical? Is there anybody ill? I’m gonna talk to the medical folks there.”

Estefani Andrade said her dad had a heart condition, along with diabetes and high blood pressure. He had medicine with him when he was detained, but she said staff at the center wouldn’t “give him his medications.”

She also said her dad was sick at the detention facility. He had a cough — which she said was concerning since he was hospitalized for COVID-19 in 2021 and that took a lasting toll on his health — and told her that he wasn’t feeling good. He sought help from the facility’s medical staff but he told her that “they would just ignore him.”

She said her dad told her that he felt like medical staff at the center was brushing off his concerns, even when he told the staff that he was having trouble breathing and feeling tightness in his chest.

Estefani Andrade said she is now trying to be strong for her mom, who is devastated.

“When she got the news, she wasn’t all there,” she said. ”It’s hitting her really hard.”

The Texas Tribune is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.