cross-posted from: https://infosec.pub/post/47775117

A Government Accountability Office (GAO) audit released today said evidence was destroyed or went missing regarding the death of Geraldo Lunas Campos, a federal immigration detainee whose death a medical examiner later ruled a homicide by asphyxiation.

The GAO reported that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) filed a “discrepancy report” in February noting that the private contractor that previously operated the Camp East Montana detention facility in Texas had failed to provide the agency with use-of-force and death reports regarding a January death of a detainee by use of force. The GAO report does not name the detainee, but the details match Lunas Campos, who died on January 3 after an altercation with guards at the camp.

“In addition, evidence associated with the incident was missing or destroyed,” the GAO report said.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) initially claimed that Lunas Campos had attempted to commit suicide and died during a struggle in which “guards were trying to save him.” However, the El Paso Medical Examiner’s Office ruled his death a homicide by asphyxiation. Multiple detainee witnesses told news outlets that guards choked Lunas Campos to death after he refused to stop asking for his medication.

“The officers entered, grabbed him,” one detainee told Zeteo, “and the last thing we could hear him say was: ‘They are choking me, they are choking me.’”