Lumpkin, Georgia — Amid increasing reports of overcrowding and the denial of human rights at the Stewart Detention Center, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has confirmed the death by suicide of Jesus Molina-Veya on Saturday, June 7, 2025. Mr. Molina-Veya’s tragic loss marks the thirteenth death in custody and the third confirmed death by suicide at Stewart Detention Center since ICE began detaining immigrants there in 2006.
Since the current president took office, Stewart Detention Center’s (SDC) average daily population has steadily risen from around 1,500 to over 1,800 people. System-wide, there are over 50,000 people in ICE custody, according to the agency’s most recent reporting. This alarming spike - a 25 percent increase in just five months - comes amid Trump’s increasingly authoritarian escalation to carry out his multi-layered, mass detention and deportation agenda. Even before this rapid increase, organizations including El Refugio, Georgia Detention Watch, Detention Watch Network, Project South, Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights, and Innovation Law Lab have documented inept mental health care, use of solitary confinement and medical neglect, unsanitary conditions, forced labor, and use of force against people detained. After her release on bond just weeks ago, Ximena Arias-Cristobal affirmed that people detained inside the Stewart Detention Center are “warehoused” and denied access to basic necessities like nutritious food, hygiene, personal resources, and adequate conditions for sleep.
Death in ICE custody is almost always preventable. The federal government’s failure to provide meaningful oversight and address systemic deficiencies in physical and mental health care continues to produce deadly consequences. As the Trump Administration’s cruel and unrelenting persecution of immigrant communities fills ICE prisons across the country, we call for immediate action to avoid more deaths inside these dangerous prisons. We mourn Mr. Molina-Veya's unnecessary death and call for an end to the life-threatening conditions of immigrant detention.
Tragically, Mr. Molina-Veya's name joins a long list of more than 254 people who have died while in ICE custody since 2003. Mr. Molina-Veya is the seventeenth person to die in ICE custody in the state of Georgia and the thirteenth person to die in ICE custody nationwide this fiscal year.
Immigrants’ rights advocates responded with the following statements:
Amilcar Valencia, Executive Director of El Refugio, an organization whose mission is to support immigrants and their loved ones at Stewart Detention Center, said:
“We mourn the tragic death of Jesus Molina-Veya and extend our heartfelt sympathies to his family. Our hearts are with the people detained at SDC, for whom another death is a stark reminder of the cruelty of a system that fails to provide basic care. We stand united in our refusal to accept any more senseless deaths in detention and our call to shut down Stewart. Detention kills, and it's past time to hold ICE and CoreCivic accountable. Action is needed now. Members of Congress must act swiftly to protect individuals detained. We demand the immediate release of all people, particularly vulnerable populations, especially people with mental health issues, pregnant people, and those with significant medical conditions,” said Valencia.
Rev. Leeann Culbreath, Georgia Detention Watch Steering Committee member, said:
“We lament the death of another community member in ICE custody–the seventeenth in a Georgia immigrant prison, and the thirteenth in the U.S. just this year! To make matters worse, in its press release, ICE continues to dehumanize and criminalize a deceased person. This depraved and cruel response proves yet again that ICE should never be given the custody and care of another human being. How many more people have to die before our elected officials will finally close this and every deadly detention center?” said Rev. Culbreath.
Azadeh Shahshahani, Legal & Advocacy Director at Project South, said:
“As tragedies mount at Stewart, we renew our call for this deadly prison to be shut down. Instead of taking steps to dismantle this prison, ICE is doubling down. It is time for Congress to take decisive action and shut down Stewart once and for all,” said Shahshahani.
Carly Perez Fernandez, Communications Director at Detention Watch Network, said:
“Jesus Molina-Veya's death is a tragedy. In immigration detention, deprivation of freedom, isolation, uncertainty, and abysmal conditions, including inadequate medical care and mental health services, are a lethal combination that puts lives in jeopardy. What we’re seeing now in detention centers, which are inherently inhumane, is a heightened degree of cruelty as Trump will stop at nothing to dehumanize and vilify immigrants. No one should suffer in these conditions. We extend our deepest condolences to Mr. Molina-Veya’s loved ones and are resolute in our demand to end the immigration detention system,” said Perez-Fernandez.
Adelina Nicholls, Executive Director at the Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights (GLAHR), said:
“Immigrant communities in Georgia and nationwide are being traumatized every single day. The death of Jesus Molina-Veya, a community member, at the Stewart Detention Center shows the real impact of the suffering inflicted by the current administration. GLAHR joins partners in condemning Stewart Detention Center and its permanent closing. We will continue to advocate for immigrant communities. La Lucha Sigue. Nuestros corazones están con la familia de Mr. Molina-Veya,” said Nicholls.
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Founded in 1986, Project South, the Institute to Eliminate Poverty & Genocide, is rooted in the legacy of the Southern Freedom Movement and Black Radical Tradition. Project South cultivates strong social movements in the U.S. South and global South, powerful enough to contend with some of the most pressing and complicated social, economic, and political problems we face today. Follow on Facebook @ProjectSouth and Instagram @projectsouthatl
The Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights (GLAHR) is a non-partisan grassroots organization dedicated to educating and organizing Latino immigrant communities in Georgia to defend their civil and human rights. Follow on Facebook: @GLAHR and Instagram @glahr.ga
El Refugio accompanies immigrants at Stewart Detention Center and their loved ones through hospitality, visitation, support, and advocacy. Follow on Facebook and Instagram @elrefugiostewart
Detention Watch Network (DWN) is a national coalition of organizations and individuals working to expose and challenge the injustices of the United States’ immigration detention and deportation system and advocate for profound change that promotes the rights and dignity of all persons. Founded in 1997 by immigrant rights groups, DWN brings together advocates to unify strategy and build partnerships on a local and national level to end immigration detention. Follow on Facebook @Detention Watch Network and Instagram @detentionwatch