On Wednesday, July 24, 44-year-old Mexican national Pedro Arriago-Santoya passed away at the Piedmont Midtown Medical Center. He was in the custody of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the Stewart Detention Facility in Lumpkin, Georgia.

Santoya entered ICE custody on April 24 in Appling County, Georgia. Following his arrest, a federal immigration court and a federal immigration judge ordered that Santoya be deported to his home country of Mexico. He was awaiting removal at the Stewart Detention Facility.

At 12.57 p.m. on July 20, Santoya told the staff at the facility that he was experiencing abdominal pain. He was seen by a nurse practitioner and after conducting a medical assessment, he was transferred to the Southwest Georgia Regional Hospital in Cuthbert, Georgia.

On July 21, he was then transferred to Piedmont Midtown Medical Center for surgery consultation for possible gallbladder disease. On July 22, Santoya went into cardiac arrest, and the staff used an Automated External Defibrillator and performed CPR to successfully resuscitate him. He was then moved to the intensive care unit and placed on mechanical ventilation.

On July 24 at 2:40 p.m. Santoya once again went into cardiac arrest. Though the staff performed CPR, he was pronounced dead at 3:10 p.m. by a hospital physician. The preliminary cause of death was determined to be cardio-pulmonary arrest secondary to multi-organ failure, endocarditis, dilated cardiomyopathy, and respiratory failure. 

Pedro Arriago-Santoya marks the seventh person to die in ICE custody during the 2019 Fiscal Year. 

A comprehensive review will be conducted by ICE senior leadership and will include Enforcement and Removal Operations, Office of the Principal Legal Advisor, and the Office of Professional Responsibility.