I’ve written before about my involvement with an interfaith clergy coalition in Dallas. Since May 2025, we’ve held constant vigil with people of faith outside the Dallas ICE Field Office. Last week, we held a special vigil.
Sept. 24 marked one year since a gunman opened fire on the field office as agents were transporting immigrants to detention facilities. Two men, Norlan Guzman, 37, and Miguel Angel Garcia-Hernandez, 32, died from the wounds they received while shackled and in the custody of ICE.
Miguel Angel Garcia-Hernandez
Both deaths were tragic. Garcia-Hernandez’s was especially shocking because he was married to a U.S. citizen and in the process of getting his Green Card. In fact, three months after his death, his widow received a letter from the U.S. government confirming his Green Card had been approved.
When we gathered last week to remember Nolan and Miguel’s deaths, we honored everyone who has died since Jan. 20, 2025, because of our government’s immigration crackdown. We read each person’s name, their age, their country of origin and the location and cause of their death before placing a flower for them at a memorial in front of the ICE field office.
There are several nonprofit organizations tracking deaths that occur as a result of our country’s current immigration crackdown. As of that day, the death toll ranged between 77 and 89 over the first 19 months of this Trump administration.
Some people’s deaths are well-remembered:
- Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old U.S. citizen, died in Minneapolis, shot by an ICE agent.
- Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old U.S. citizen, died in Minneapolis, shot by Border Patrol agents.
Other people’s deaths made headlines at the time of their killings but have faded from memory.
- Nurul Amin Shah Alam, a 56-year-old blind refugee from Myanmar, died of hypothermia in Buffalo, N.Y., after ICE dropped him off outside and unassisted. Call it a homicide.
- Joan Sebastian Guerrero, a 26-year-old from Colombia, died in Biddeford, Maine, shot by an ICE agent.
“More U.S. citizens have died from our government’s reckless immigration enforcement than most people are aware of.”
More U.S. citizens have died from our government’s reckless immigration enforcement than most people are aware of. In addition to Renee Good and Alex Pretti, deaths of U.S. citizens include:
- Ruben Ray Martinez, a 23-year-old U.S. citizen, died in South Padre Island, Texas, shot by ICE during a traffic stop.
- Keith Porter Jr., a 43-year-old U.S. citizen, died in Northridge, Los Angeles, shot by an off-duty ICE agent.
- Linda Davis, a 52-year-old U.S. citizen, died in Savannah, Ga., killed when a man fleeing ICE collided with her vehicle.
Some deaths point to agents’ deliberate violence resulting in people’s deaths:
- Juan Alexis Tineo Martinez, a 44-year-old from Dominican Republic, died in San Juan, Puerto Rico due to a collapsed lung.
- Tien Xuan Phan, a 55-year-old from Vietnam, died in Live Oak, Texas, of a brain bleed.
- Geraldo Lunas Campos, a 55-year-old from Cuba, died at Camp East Montana, El Paso, due to homicidal asphyxia from ICE agents.
- Parady La, a 46-year-old from Cambodia, died in Philadelphia, of a brain injury and organ failure.
I was shocked at the number of people who have died because they didn’t receive proper medical care while in the custody of our government. I count at least 30 — not including those who died from cardiac arrest (the cause of death for at least 10 people). Some of the most horrifying incidents of medical neglect include:
- Maksym Chernyak, a 44-year-old from Ukraine, died in Miami, due to a stroke left untreated.
- Johnny Noviello, a 49-year-old from Canada, died in a federal detention center in Miami of renal failure.
- Lorenzo Antonio Batrez Vargas, a 32-year-old from Mexico, died in Mesa, Ariz., of bronchial pneumonia.
- Ismael Ayala-Uribe, a 39-year-old from Mexico and DACA recipient since age 4, died in Victorville, Calif., after being denied care for a pelvic abscess.
- Emanuel Cleeford Damas, a 56-year-old from Haiti, died in Florence Correctional Center, Arizona, due to sepsis from denied care for a tooth infection.
- Edwin Jeovanny Lopez Cornejo, a 39-year-old from El Salvador, died in Delaney Hall, Newark, N.J., after being denied care and medications for diabetes and epilepsy.
Additionally, there have been at least 10 suicides in the detention centers and at least 10 additional deaths for which no cause of death has been determined.
Some deaths occurred immediately after the people were released from ICE custody. In addition to Nurul Amin Shah Alam, the blind refugee dropped in the freezing cold, others died as a result of their detention after being released:
- Estela Ramos Baten, a 45-year-old from Guatemala died from liver failure after returning to Guatemala because ICE never returned her medicine.
- Erika Arhuiz Vega, a mother from Peru, died from kidney disease in Peru after deportation. She was denied dialysis while in detention.
In June, DHS announced they will no longer report deaths, like these, that happen immediately after someone is released from custody, obscuring the full human cost of our country’s brutal immigration crackdown.
Someday, the agents who shot, suffocated, beat and deprived medical care to U.S. citizens and immigrants alike will no longer be shielded by this corrupt and cruel administration. When that day comes, I hope they are held accountable for these misdeeds in the name of nationalism.
Until then, may God have mercy on us all.
Mara Richards Bim
Mara Richards Bim serves as a Clemons Fellow with BNG and as the first Justice and Advocacy Fellow at Royal Lane Baptist Church in Dallas where she recently was ordained to the gospel ministry. She earned the master of divinity degree and a certificate in spiritual direction from Perkins School of Theology at SMU. She also is an award-winning theater artist and founder of the nationally acclaimed Cry Havoc Theater Company, which operated in Dallas from 2014 to 2023.
Related:
Don’t look away: ICE and CBP are getting away with murder | Analysis by Mara Richards Bim
5 things I wish every U.S. citizen knew | Analysis by Mara Richards Bim
It’s time to name and prosecute Trump’s minions | Opinion by Mark Wingfield