ICE Detainee Dies After HIV Undiagnosed for Months During Custody

Newsweek

02-05-2025

Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content.
A man who died in ICE custody earlier this year from complications related to untreated HIV could have been saved with the help of routine blood tests, medical experts have told Newsweek, raising concerns about health screening in detention facilities.
The 45-year-old Ethiopian man died on January 29, 2025, from "Complications of multiple infections in the setting of human immunodeficiency virus," according to a medical examiner's report filed two days later.
His condition went unaddressed during his nearly 4-month detention at Eloy Detention Center in Arizona, a death report from immigration officials said. Modern HIV treatments allow near-average life spans.
Three leading infectious disease epidemiologists told Newsweek opportunities to save the man's life were missed.
Perry Halkitis, professor of public health at Rutgers University, said "routine blood work" tests would have "immediately" shown that he had HIV.
Denis Nash, professor of epidemiology at the CUNY School of Public Health, said the death appeared "entirely preventable" if diagnosed and treated at the time of his initial medical exam, and "still possible" after he started to develop symptoms of advanced HIV.
Dr. Monica Gandhi, director of the UCSF Gladstone Center for AIDS Research, also said that antiretroviral therapy during custody "could have prevented" the man's death.
When contacted by Newsweek about the concerns, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said its 1,600-strong ICE Health Service Corps employees "uphold the highest standards" and follow the latest Performance-Based National Detention Standards to provide "comprehensive medical care," including a full health assessment for detainees within 14 days.
Photo-illustration by Newsweek/Getty
Detainees do not need to be routinely screened for HIV, those standards show, but "may request HIV testing at any time during detention" and an HIV diagnosis "may be made only by a licensed health care provider, based on a medical history, current clinical evaluation of signs and symptoms and laboratory studies."
Nurses twice recorded the man denied having any prior medical history, the death report said.
"At no time during detention is a detained individual denied emergent care," ICE added.
The detention center's operator, CoreCivic, told Newsweek its staff would not have made medical decisions and are trained to refer all detainee health concerns to medical staff, and that safety, health, and well-being "is our top priority."
The documents detailing the man's death were first obtained by the nonprofit watchdog Project On Government Oversight.
The man has not been named due to uncertainty about whether his family was aware of his HIV condition.
Why It Matters
The death raises serious questions over medical care for those in ICE custody. It also raises concerns about the lack of routine HIV screening in ICE facilities, which experts say could have prevented this tragedy.
Between fiscal years 2018 and 2025, there were 65 reported deaths in ICE detention facilities.
Immigration arrests and detention have risen sharply under President Donald Trump's second term, leaving stretched detention centers at maximum capacity.
What to Know
The man was arrested by the U.S. Border Patrol near Lukeville, Arizona, on August 19 last year after entering the country illegally. He was placed into expedited removal proceedings and transferred to ICE custody at Eloy Detention Center.
No HIV treatment was provided during his time in custody, even though his condition would have required specialized medical attention.
After an initial medical screening, which included a chest X-ray, on August 21 and 22, the detainee was cleared to be housed in the general population of the facility, ICE's death report said.
The man was evaluated for back pain four times between November 3 and December 16, the death report shows.
On December 20, the man informed a detention staff member he had fainted in the recreation yard the day before.
A medical doctor assessed him and noted the man showed normal vital signs but also signs of dehydration, an elevated pulse reading of 130 bpm, was feeling weak and fatigued and had lost about 20 percent of his body weight. He was referred to Banner Casa Grande Hospital.
Between Christmas Eve and New Year's Ever, doctors at the hospital diagnosed acute respiratory distress, pneumonia, possible lymphoma, and a pericardial effusion, and provided treatment.
He was taken by air ambulance to an intensive care unit at Banner University Medical Center Phoenix's (BUMCP) on December 31.
Between New Year's Day and January 2, BUMCP medical staff identified his immunocompromised status—HIV can leave the body unable to produce an adequate immune response — and diagnosed him with acute respiratory distress, pneumonia, possible lymphoma with metastases in the lungs, life-threatening sepsis, supraventricular tachycardia, and ischemic stroke. As a result, BUMCP medical staff ordered oncology and palliative care consultations.
On January 3, BUMCP medical staff performed a biopsy of his neck lymph node, diagnosed him with tuberculosis, and placed him on a ventilator for airway protection
As his condition continued to deteriorate, his next of kin made the decision to withdraw life support.
The man was pronounced dead at approximately 1:21 p.m. on January 29.
Medical experts told Newsweek that better treatment could have prevented the man's death.
"This patient died of AIDS and resultant opportunistic infections that result from untreated HIV infection, including central nervous system toxoplasmosis, pneumocystis pneumonia, tuberculosis, and CMV (all infections that occur as a result of advanced immunodeficiency with HIV)," said Dr. Gandhi after reviewing the medical examiner's report.
"He was not receiving antiretroviral therapy (which treats HIV) when in ICE detention which could have prevented all of these conditions."
Nash, professor of epidemiology at the CUNY School of Public Health, said the death appeared "entirely preventable" if recognized and diagnosed in time.
"It is possible that [the detainee] could have survived, had his HIV been diagnosed and treated at the time of his initial medical exam, and also still possible even after he started to develop symptoms of advanced HIV and OIS."
He added: "The presence of multiple opportunistic infections—like pneumocystis pneumonia, CMV, toxoplasmosis, and advanced TB—strongly suggests he had untreated HIV for a long time. These are not subtle signs; they are classic indicators of HIV infection that has progressed to full-blown AIDS due to a severely weakened immune system.
"And development of new symptoms after detention should receive immediate attention, as both advanced HIV and TB disease can progress rapidly towards a fatal outcome without treatment."
It is still common for people to be diagnosed too late to benefit from treatment, Nash said, and clinical management is harder when people have advanced HIV and other complications.
"Even when this happens, people can often respond well to treatment of HIV and the OIS. But time is of the essence. And of course clinical management is harder when people have advanced HIV with Oi-related complications like this," he said.
This electron microscope image made available by the U.S. National Institutes of Health shows a human T cell, in blue, under attack by HIV, in yellow, the virus that causes AIDS.
This electron microscope image made available by the U.S. National Institutes of Health shows a human T cell, in blue, under attack by HIV, in yellow, the virus that causes AIDS.
Seth Pincus, Elizabeth Fischer, Austin Athman/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases/NIH via AP
Halkitis, an expert in infectious disease epidemiology and professor of public health at Rutgers University, said in a statement: "If they had run routine blood work they would have seen immediately from his CD4 [a type of white blood cell that plays a crucial role in the immune system] count that he had HIV. Immediately!"
Public health experts have repeatedly raised alarms about inadequate infectious disease screening in immigration detention centers.
A study published in Health and Human Rights Journal in 2009 concluded "the system of immigration detention in the US fails to adequately screen detainees for HIV and delivers a substandard level of medical care to those with HIV."
The study urged ICE to adopt routine HIV testing to all detainees, provide appropriate care to those who require treatment, report HIV statistics to an external agency, and guarantee defined medical care as a matter of law.
A 2024 study in the American Journal of Public Health called on ICE to improve access to HIV treatment and begin publishing monthly health care metrics—including data on whether detainees are receiving HIV medications.
Immigration arrests and detention have risen sharply since Trump began his second White House term on January 20.
U.S. ICE agents made 32,809 migrant arrests between then and March 10, 2025, officials said at a news conference in March, at a rate more than double than under former President Joe Biden.
Detention centers are struggling to cope. U.S. immigration detention is filled to capacity at 47,600 detainees, a senior ICE official told reporters that month, and the Trump administration is seeking more bed space.
The Elroy facility had the sixth highest daily population on January 6, according to data analyzed by Syracuse University nonprofit TRAC.