ICE detainee passes away at Monroe County Hospital

MIAMI – A Cuban national in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the Monroe County Detention Center (MCDC) in Key West, Florida, died Thursday at an area hospital after he was found unresponsive in his cell and efforts by facility staff and emergency personnel to revive him were unsuccessful.

Wilfredo Padron, 58, was pronounced dead at Lower Keys Medical Center (LKMC) in Key West, at 7:17 a.m. The official cause of death remains under investigation but it is believed to be cardiac-related natural causes. MCDC staff found Padron unresponsive in his cell Thursday at approximately 6:41 a.m. and immediately began cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and also used an Automated External Defibrillator. At 6:49 a.m. the Key West Fire Department arrived and transported him to LKMC where he was pronounced dead.

Consistent with the agency’s protocols, the appropriate state health and local law enforcement agencies have been notified about the death, as have the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General and the ICE Office of Professional Responsibility. Additionally, ICE has advised Cuban Embassy representatives.

ICE is firmly committed to the health and welfare of all those in its custody and is undertaking a comprehensive agency-wide review of this incident, as it does in all such cases. Fatalities in ICE custody, statistically, are exceedingly rare and occur at a fraction of the rate of the U.S. detained population as a whole. This agency’s comprehensive review will be conducted by ICE senior leadership to include Enforcement and Removal Operations, the Office of Professional Responsibility and the Office of the Principal Legal Advisor.

Mr. Padron had multiple prior criminal convictions in Florida and Texas and entered ICE custody Aug. 15 pursuant to a final order of removal issued by an immigration judge in November 2001. He was in custody pending his removal from the U.S. in accordance with federal law, agency policy and the order of the courts.

Mr. Padron is the first individual to pass away in ICE custody in fiscal year 2019.