A 58-year-old Indian citizen died while in custody of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at the Atlanta airport, becoming the eighth person to die in their custody in 2017.
Atul Kumar Babubhai Patel died of congestive heart failure at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta on 16 May, according to an ICE statement.
Mr Patel had arrived in the US on a flight from Quito, Ecuador and was detained on 10 May for allegedly missing proper immigration documents. The reason for Mr Patel's travel has not yet been confirmed.
ICE spokesperson Bryan Cox confirmed that Mr Patel was only transferred into ICE Custody 11 May. Until then, he was held by a separate federal agency US Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
ICE is the domestic enforcement agency, but CBP was the agency at the Atlanta airport that actually detained Mr Patel. Both agencies operate under the Department of Homeland Security.
Once transferred to ICE, Mr Patel was then held in the Atlanta City Detention Center and “received an initial medical screening and was identified to have high blood pressure and diabetes.”
ICE requires all detainees to go through a medical screening within 12 hours of transfer into their custody, Mr Cox said.
After routine monitoring for his health issues, Mr Patel was transferred to hospital two days later on 13 May with shortness of breath. He remained in care there until his death on 16 May.
The Indian consulate has informed Mr Patel’s next of kin.
Though deaths in ICE custody are rare, the agency and CBP have been under extra scrutiny of late due to Donald Trump’s ban on travellers from certain Muslim-majority countries entering the US.
What immigration paperwork CBP needs upon entry, what travellers’ rights are, and what ICE and CBP will enforce based on court orders created confusion in international airports all over the US as a result.
Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General and the ICE Office of Professional Responsibility have been alerted to the circumstances surrounding Mr Patel’s death as well.
There is no word as yet whether some sort of review of the tragic incident will take place or what, if any, action Indian authorities may take in the matter.
CBP has also not made public as yet what documentation Mr Patel was missing that caused his detention in the first place.
