A man died while being held by Immigration and Customs Enforcement after his wife was deported without seeing him again. Francisco Gaspar-Andrés, 48, was a Guatemalan national who died at a hospital in El Paso after being transferred from an ICE-run tent camp at Fort Bliss, where he had been held for weeks. His death came as Democratic lawmakers and immigration advocates escalated calls to shut down the facility, citing allegations of inhumane conditions that the Department of Homeland Security has called “categorically false.” ICE said it suspected the cause of death was “natural liver and kidney failure” and said medical staff provided “constant, high-quality care” once his condition deteriorated. An immigration judge ordered his removal to Guatemala in mid-November, ICE said. He was hospitalized days later as his condition worsened and ultimately died from complications, including organ failure and internal bleeding. His wife, Lucía Pedro Juan, was deported to Guatemala late in November after also being held at the Fort Bliss facility, according to an account she gave to the El Paso Times. “I never saw him again, I never spoke to him or heard his voice again. It’s something terrible they did to us,” Pedro Juan, who was married to Gaspar-Andrés for 25 years, told the outlet.
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