A Man Died in ICE Custody at the Laredo Processing Center: What Is Known, What Mexico Has Asked For, and What Families of Detained Relatives Can Ask a Lawyer

What Happened

According to reporting by the Texas Tribune on October 18, 2026, staff at a federal processing center in Laredo operated for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement found Emiliano Andrade-Covarrubias, 56, unresponsive in his cell during a security check at about 10 a.m. on Saturday, October 17. Staff performed CPR and called emergency services. He was pronounced dead.

U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar of Laredo confirmed the death to the Tribune and said he planned to visit the facility the following afternoon to ask what had happened and about conditions and medical care there. Cuellar said it was not known why Andrade-Covarrubias had been found unresponsive, whether he had prior medical issues, or whether he had requested medical attention, and that an autopsy was being performed at the Webb County Medical Examiner’s office. The Tribune reported that Department of Homeland Security officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment. He is the seventh person reported to have died in ICE detention in Texas in 2026.

The Tribune named the facility as the Rio Grande Processing Center in Laredo and reported that it had asked The GEO Group and DHS for comment and that neither immediately responded. The GEO Group states on its own facility page that it operates the center at 1001 San Rio Boulevard in Laredo, with a capacity of 1,900 and with ICE and the U.S. Marshals Service as its clients. The Tribune also reported, and El Diario de Nuevo Laredo reported, the account of his daughter, Estefani Andrade: that he had lived in the Dallas area for about thirty years and worked as a contractor painting apartments and houses; that he was detained in June as he returned from Mexico by bus; that he had a heart condition, diabetes and high blood pressure; that he reported a cough, trouble breathing and chest tightness and felt his concerns were being dismissed; and that he was not given his medications. She also said the family learned of the death on Saturday from the Webb County Medical Examiner rather than from a federal agency. Those are the family’s statements, and no official finding has confirmed or contradicted them. The Tribune reported that this is the second ICE-custody death in Laredo this year; Felix Alcorta-Rodriguez, 63, died June 19 at the Webb County Detention Center after being found unresponsive, according to ICE.

What Mexico Has Asked For

On October 18, 2026, Mexico’s Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores — its foreign ministry — said publicly that it had been notified of the death by the local ICE office through the Consulate General of Mexico in Laredo. As reported by Proceso and La Jornada, the ministry said it had:

• Activated its consular protection protocol and contacted the family to provide consular assistance.
• Asked United States authorities for an investigation that it described as “pronta, exhaustiva y transparente” — prompt, thorough and transparent — and for responsibilities to be determined.
• Said it would send a complaint to the Webb County district attorney asking that the case be clarified.
• Sent diplomatic notes to the U.S. Department of State and asked, through its embassy, for Mexican consuls to be given access to immigration detention centers.

The ministry also said this case brings to 18 the number of Mexican nationals who have died in these circumstances since January 20, 2025.

What ICE’s Own Policy Requires

This part matters to families because it describes documents that are supposed to exist. ICE’s published Detainee Death Reporting page sets out what the agency says happens after a death in its custody:

• The Field Office Director must report the death within 12 hours to agency leadership, the Joint Intake Center and the Office of the Principal Legal Advisor.
• Under agency policy, ICE notifies the next of kin, the appropriate consulate, DHS and ICE stakeholders, the U.S. Congress and the public.
• ICE posts a public news release on its website within two business days.
• The ICE Office of Professional Responsibility examines each death and drafts a report, with results going to ICE senior management and the DHS Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties.
• Under the 2018 DHS appropriations act, ICE states it must make all in-custody death reports public within 90 days.

Separately, in Texas a death in custody is a death that falls to a medical examiner or justice of the peace to investigate under Chapter 49 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure, which is why the Webb County Medical Examiner’s office is conducting the autopsy here. A death report, an autopsy report and an internal review are each a separate record held by a separate office, and attorneys who handle custody cases describe requesting them early, in writing, as the first practical step — records are easier to obtain while they are current.

Who in Texas This Reaches

Three groups of people in Texas have a direct stake in a case like this one, and they need different kinds of help.

Families of people currently in immigration detention. This is the largest group and the most urgent. Texas holds more immigration detention capacity than any other state, and the Laredo facility alone lists a capacity of 1,900. A relative who is worried about a detained family member’s medical care has concrete things a lawyer can do on their behalf: confirm where the person is held, file a request for the detention medical file, raise a medical concern through the facility and ICE channels in writing so that there is a record, and look at whether the person’s immigration posture allows a request for bond, parole, or release on humanitarian grounds. None of that depends on predicting an outcome, and all of it is faster with counsel.

Families who have lost someone in custody. A death in government custody raises questions that sit in more than one area of law at once: the federal records and reporting obligations above, a possible claim against the United States, a possible claim against a private contractor that operates a facility, and the Texas law that decides who may bring a wrongful death action at all. Whether any claim exists in a particular case turns entirely on facts that are not public yet, which is exactly the situation in which a lawyer, rather than a web page, is the right next step.

Detained foreign nationals and their consulates. Consular notification is not a courtesy; ICE’s own policy lists notifying the appropriate consulate among its obligations after a death, and the Mexican consulate in Laredo says it was notified here. For a detained person, a consulate can be a source of assistance and of pressure, and a lawyer can explain how consular help and legal representation fit together rather than substituting for one another.

What Kind of Claim or Option Might Apply

Attorneys who handle custody and detention matters describe the work in a case like this as fact-gathering first and claim selection second, because the cause of death determines almost everything that follows. The questions they generally raise with a family include these:

• What do the records show? The autopsy report, the detention medical file, the facility’s incident documentation, the ICE death report and any internal review each tell part of the story. Counsel can request them and read them together.
• Who was responsible for care? A facility operated by a private contractor under a federal contract can involve the contractor, its medical staff, and the federal agency, and the correct defendant is a legal question rather than an obvious one.
• Is there a claim against the United States? Claims that a federal employee’s negligence caused a death are generally brought under the Federal Tort Claims Act, which requires an administrative claim to be presented to the agency first, and which sets a time limit of two years from when the claim accrues, with suit to follow within six months of a denial — see 28 U.S.C. § 2401(b).
• Is there a Texas wrongful death or survival claim? Texas law gives a wrongful death action to the surviving spouse, children and parents of the person who died, and Section 16.003 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code sets a limitations period of two years from the date of death. Who may bring the action, and against whom, is a question for counsel.
• Is there a federal civil rights claim? Claims about deliberate indifference to a detainee’s serious medical needs are a recognized category of federal civil rights litigation, with their own requirements and their own limits. Whether the facts here support one cannot be known until the findings are in.
• What about the estate and the family’s immediate needs? Repatriation of remains, the death certificate, benefits, and administration of a modest estate are practical matters a lawyer can help a family handle alongside everything else.

Nothing on this page can tell any particular reader that they have a claim, or that they do not. What a lawyer can do is read one family’s facts and the records as they come out, and say plainly what options actually exist.

Why Acting Quickly Can Matter

The time limits above are the clearest reason. A two-year limitations period under Texas law, and a two-year administrative deadline under the Federal Tort Claims Act, sound generous and routinely are not: in a custody case the first year is often spent obtaining records that have to be requested before they can be read, and an administrative claim has to be filed with the right agency in the right form before a lawsuit is possible at all.

There is a second, quieter reason. Facility video is typically retained for a limited period, staffing and medical records are easiest to identify while the people involved are still in the same roles, and a preservation request made early is more effective than one made late. Families who ask a lawyer to send a preservation letter in the first weeks are in a different position from families who do so after the official reports are published.

And for a family with a relative still detained, the urgency is of a different kind entirely. A medical concern raised in writing, through a lawyer, creates a record now. That is worth doing while the person can still be helped.

Sources

1. Detainee Death Reporting, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement — the agency’s own statement of its notification, review and reporting obligations, including the two-business-day news release and the 90-day public death report.
2. Migrant found dead at Laredo ICE facility, The Texas Tribune, October 18, 2026 — the death, the time it was discovered, Rep. Cuellar’s account, and the Webb County autopsy.
3. SRE solicita a EU esclarecer el fallecimiento de un migrante mexicano en celda de Laredo, Proceso, October 18, 2026 — the Mexican foreign ministry’s statement, the consular protocol, and the complaint to the Webb County district attorney.
4. México exige a EU investigar la muerte de un connacional en Laredo, La Jornada, October 18, 2026 — independent confirmation of the ministry’s statement, the diplomatic notes, and the figure of 18 deaths since January 20, 2025.
5. Vivió en Dallas 30 años y lo hallan muerto en centro de detención de ICE en Laredo, El Diario de Nuevo Laredo, October 18, 2026 — the family’s account, his years in the Dallas area, the facility operator, and the prior Laredo-area death.
6. Rio Grande Processing Center, The GEO Group, Inc. — the operator’s own page giving the address, the 1,900 capacity, and ICE and the U.S. Marshals Service as clients.
7. Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code § 16.003 — the two-year limitations period for personal injury and wrongful death actions in Texas.
8. 28 U.S.C. § 2401(b), Legal Information Institute — the Federal Tort Claims Act time limits for presenting an administrative claim and for filing suit after denial.
9. Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Chapter 49 — inquests and autopsies, including deaths occurring in custody.