Pressroom

Lumpkin, Georgia - Advocates are mourning the loss of Priciliano Trejo, 29, who died at a hospital last week after being detained at Stewart Detention Center in Georgia.

According to his family, Trejo, who had leukemia, was detained in North Carolina and sent to Stewart on June 19. On July 6, he wasn't feeling well and asked for medical care, but ICE did not provide it for eight days until they took him to the hospital on July 13. On July 15, Trejo was in a coma, and ICE contacted his family to give them custody of him. He died on Friday, July 24, at the hospital. Because custody of Trejo was given to his family before his death, his death will likely not be reported by ICE. This tragedy raises the death toll to 22 deaths in ICE custody or released shortly after, like Trejo, in Georgia and the 15 people who died at Stewart Detention Center, one of the deadliest ICE prisons in the country.

Operated by private prison corporation, CoreCivic, the Stewart Detention Center is one of the largest ICE detention centers in the country with an average daily population of over 2,000 people. The Stewart Detention Center has a long record of abuse and death. People detained at the Stewart Detention Center and immigrants’ rights advocates have been exposing inhumane conditions there for over a decade. Documented abuses include inept mental health care, use of solitary confinement, unsanitary conditions, COVID-19 negligence, medical neglect, forced labor, and use of force against people detained. In 2023, women bravely stepped forward to submit federal complaints about the sexual assault they experienced at the hands of a Stewart nurse from May 2021 to May 2022.

Fiscal year 2026 was the deadliest fiscal year in ICE’s history. There have been 53 deaths in ICE custody since Trump was inaugurated, 33 in-custody deaths in fiscal year 2026 alone, 4 deaths of people by ICE this year during targeted operations, like Joan Sebastián Guerrero, 26, in Maine and Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, 52, in Texas, and an unknown number of deaths of people who were in ICE custody and then died shortly after their release like Trejo. Immigrant justice advocates have been ringing the alarm demanding members of Congress act now to zero out ICE funding in upcoming appropriations bills, revoke the billions of dollars they have already given the agency, get ICE out of communities nationwide, and shut down ICE detention centers for good.

Immigrants’ rights advocates in Georgia and across the country responded with the following statements:

Setareh Ghandehari, Advocacy Director at Detention Watch Network, said:

“We are deeply saddened and equally enraged by the loss of life at the hands of ICE. ICE kills people and threatens community safety across the country. No one is safe when ICE is present – whether on the streets or in one of the agency’s more than 200 abuse-ridden detention facilities. People are dying in ICE detention at a record-breaking rate, ICE agents are tearing families apart and shooting people on the streets, making people less safe, and causing chaos wherever they go — whether in Minneapolis, Chicago, Los Angeles, Houston, Biddeford, or beyond. Make no mistake, we are witnessing a watershed moment. No more abuse and death at the hands of ICE and no more ICE funding while people lose health care, struggle to pay rent and kids go hungry. We demand an end to the ICE age.”

Amilcar Valencia, Executive Director at El Refugio, said:

“We mourn another tragic death in Georgia and send our deepest condolences to the family of Priciliano Trejo. His father spoke with us and told us that Priciliano was a person in good health and doesn't understand why, in a short time, his health declined so rapidly and he died. He demands answers and the truth. No one should die in detention; sadly, detention deaths have dramatically increased under this regime. Stewart Detention Center has a reputation as one of the deadliest detention centers in the country. Mr. Trejo joins the long list of immigrants who die in this facility, 15 in total. They were real people; they had families, people who loved them, and due to this inhumane and unnecessary detention system, their loved ones will never be able to see them alive again. Under ICE custody, people are routinely tortured, abused, and endure neglectful conditions, and ultimately lose their lives. Action is needed now; we can’t allow more people to be put at risk. We demand justice, a full independent investigation of all deaths at this facility, and a commitment from Congress to terminate CoreCivic’s contract and shut down Stewart.”

Priyanka Bhatt, Senior Staff Attorney at Project South, said:

“We are devastated and outraged to hear about Mr. Priciliano Trejo's death. He deserved to be with his loved ones while fighting for his life with leukemia. He deserved proper medical attention and specialist care-- not to be caged in an over-crowded deadly ICE prison plagued with human rights violations and medical neglect. His family deserved a chance to say goodbye. How many more lives must be lost before this system changes? We urgently renew our call to #ShutDownStewart.”

Adelina Nicholls, Executive Director at the Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights, said:

“We are heartbroken and outraged by the death of a 29-year-old Mexican man after he was transferred from Stewart Detention Center and died in a hospital on July 24. No one seeking safety, opportunity, or a better life should face neglect, suffering, or death while in government custody. Stewart Detention Center has long been the subject of serious allegations about inhumane conditions and inadequate medical care. Stewart is the deadliest detention center in the nation. We once again demand accountability, transparency, and meaningful action—not silence. We call for the abolition of immigration detention that profits from the suffering and inhumane conditions that immigrants are exposed to. Every person deserves compassion, medical care, and the chance to live free from abuse and neglect. Our community members' preventable deaths are one too many, and the responsible ones should be held accountable.”

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El Refugio accompanies immigrants at Stewart Detention Center and their loved ones through hospitality, visitation, support, and advocacy.

Detention Watch Network (DWN) is a national coalition building power through collective advocacy, grassroots organizing, and strategic communications to abolish immigration detention in the United States.

Georgia Detention Watch is a coalition of organizations and individuals that advocates alongside immigrants to end the inhumane and unjust detention and law enforcement policies and practices directed against immigrant communities in our state.

Project South is a Southern-based leadership development organization that creates spaces for movement building. We work with communities pushed forward by the struggle– to strengthen leadership and to provide popular political and economic education for personal and social transformation. We build relationships with organizations and networks across the US and global South to inform our local work and to engage in bottom-up movement building for social and economic justice.

The Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights (GLAHR) educates and organizes the Latino community in Georgia to defend and promote their civil and human rights. Our vision is to protect immigrant rights while at the same time empowering our community to take a stand. We know that an engaged community is a powerful community. At GLAHR we are building more than just a moment but a movement.