Cuban man dies by suicide in ICE detention in Miami — the second in Florida in a month

A 27-year-old Cuban man died this week in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Florida — the second presumed suicide in the Sunshine State in less than a month.

Aled Damien Carbonell-Betancourt was found in his cell “in what appeared to be a suicide attempt” on the early morning of April 12, ICE said in a press release on Thursday.

Efforts to revive him were unsuccessful, according to the statement, and the official cause of death is under investigation.

At least nine immigrants have died of presumed suicides since President Donald Trump assumed office in January 2025. Since then, at least 49 people have died overall in ICE custody, according to a Miami Herald analysis of press releases, death reports, autopsies, and government documents. Experts say 2026 is on track to be the deadliest year on record for immigrants in agency custody, with 17 deaths thus far.

The Miami Herald was unable to immediately reach family or representatives for Carbonell-Betancourt. The government press release notes that he entered ICE custody on Feb. 11 after being charged with resisting an officer.

However, reporters located records that show prosecutors dropped the charges against him— and that officers tased and took him to the hospital in November 2025 after they stopped him for potential trespassing in Hialeah.

On Nov. 20, 2025, a Hialeah police officer observed Carbonell-Betancourt at an “abandoned farmer’s market” at 11:30 p.m, according to an arrest report. The officer warned him about trespassing, asked him to put his belongings on the patrol car hood, and proceeded to pat him down for weapons.

The officer asked Carbonell-Betancourt for identification, which he “failed to provide.” It’s unclear whether Carbonell-Betancourt had any documents on his person at the time of the arrest.

The 27-year old then ran, and the officer pursued him — using a taser and placing him in handcuffs, according to court records.

He was taken to a hospital and charged with resisting an officer with violence, a felony under state law. But documents from the state attorney’s office and court records later show that the charge was later reduced to a misdemeanor for resisting an officer without violence, which they then declined to pursue.

The Herald has requested footage of Carbonell-Betancourt’s arrest as well as the report on his autopsy.

Carbonell-Betancourt first came into the U.S. on Oct. 30, 2024, and was released on parole and put in deportation proceedings in immigration court, the agency said. ICE came across him after he was charged with resisting an officer.

Another case shows he was involved in a family dispute on Nov. 16 and charged with two felonies, but the case was closed in December. An elderly relative said that Carbonell-Betancourt “threw a rock through the residence’s front door” which hit the family member on the head, according to court records.

ICE encountered Carbonell-Betancourt in Miami-Dade County Jail on Nov. 22, 2025, and held him in the Federal Detention Center in downtown Miami in February.

Under Trump’s mass deportation plans, ICE detention centers have quickly become overcrowded — and the government has placed civil immigration detainees at Bureau of Prisons facilities. A Herald investigation last year found that ICE detainees at FDC face harsh conditions, crumbling infrastructure, use of force and lack of access to lawyers.

READ MORE: ‘Some cry all day.’ ICE detainees face harsh conditions in Miami federal facility

Second suicide in less than a month

Deaths in ICE detention have been causing widespread alarm amongst lawyers, advocates and community leaders, who say that the pace of deaths corresponds to poor conditions, overpopulation and the quality of healthcare in custody. ICE has long been criticized for not providing proper healthcare of detainees.

Government officials have defended ICE in the wake of deaths in custody, maintaining that detainees receive initial screening within 12 hours and a full health assessment within two weeks of arriving at ICE detention centers.

The Department of Homeland Security has said that it provides the best medical care many immigrant detainees have received and that the death rates are a result of the agency managing a larger population. There were about 51,000 detainees in ICE custody nationwide as of April 4, compared to almost 29,000 in early April last year, according to Syracuse University researchers.

But critics are skeptical, and say that centers already could not handle detainees’ needs even before the population at ICE facilities ballooned under Trump’s mass deportation agenda.

Dr. Amy Zeidan, an emergency medicine physician and a member of Physician for Human Rights, told the Herald that there have long been acute deficiencies in mental health care at ICE facilities. That’s especially true, she said, after the mass expansion of the numbers in custody.

“They didn’t have the appropriate workforce and staff with appropriate training and qualifications,” Zeidan said. “And when you increase your population size, there’s just no way they can handle the capacity that they are supposed to handle.”

READ MORE: Teenaged Mexican immigrant dies in ICE detention in Florida in ‘presumed suicide’

Royer Perez-Jimenez, a 19-year-old from Mexico, died at Glades County Detention Center in mid-March. His father told Mexican media that Perez-Jimenez had left Chiapas at age 15 hoping to make enough money to have a home for himself.

Perez-Jimenez died less than a month after entering ICE custody, after city of Edgewater police officers pulled him over for crossing lanes while driving a scooter. He was also charged for resisting an officer and impersonating someone else because he had given them another name that was not his own.

But records located by the Herald told a more complex story.

Perez-Jimenez was stopped by officers for crossing lanes and failed to get off a scooter when asked, according to the arrest report. It’s unclear whether he understood the instructions and questions asked, however, as the officers later had to call for a translator.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has her government will investigate the deaths in ICE detention, given how many Mexican nationals have died in ICE custody.

“The report states that the young man committed suicide. However, we want a thorough investigation,” Sheinbaum said during a press conference in Cancun. “And furthermore, it is unacceptable that something like this is happening.”

This story was originally published April 17, 2026 at 11:27 AM with the headline "Cuban man dies by suicide in ICE detention in Miami — the second in Florida in a month."