Georgia’s two U.S. senators are demanding answers from federal immigration officials after 14 people died in custody this year, including two men at a south Georgia detention center they say faces serious problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What It Means For You:<\/strong> Your elected officials are questioning whether people held in Georgia’s immigration facilities are getting basic medical care, safe conditions, and proper treatment while awaiting deportation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What’s Happening:<\/strong> Senators Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock sent a letter expressing “serious alarm” about deaths nationwide and conditions at Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin. The Deaths:<\/strong> Two Mexican men died at or near Stewart this year. The Accusations:<\/strong> The senators list serious problems at Stewart Detention Center. Between the Lines:<\/strong> ICE failed to report both Georgia deaths within its own 48-hour deadline. The Sources:<\/strong> Letter dated September 23, 2025, from Senators Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Georgia’s two U.S. senators are demanding answers from federal immigration officials after 14 people died in custody this year, including two men at a south Georgia detention center they say faces serious problems. What It Means For You: Your elected officials are questioning whether people held in Georgia’s immigration facilities are getting basic medical care, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":948,"featured_media":223429,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[14819,8899,8645,19251],"class_list":["post-232978","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-ice","tag-jon-ossoff","tag-raphael-warnock","tag-stewart-detention-center","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232978","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/948"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=232978"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232978\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223429"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=232978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=232978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=232978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\u2022 They want immediate information about the deaths and plans to prevent more fatalities
\u2022 The senators are demanding a briefing and written responses by October 31<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2022 Abelardo Avellaneda-Delgado, 68, died May 5 during transport to the facility
\u2022 Jesus Molina-Veya, 45, died by suicide June 7 at Stewart
\u2022 Stewart has recorded 13 deaths since 2006, with three by suicide<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2022 Sexual abuse, medical neglect, and overuse of solitary confinement
\u2022 Overcrowding, barriers to legal help, and forced labor
\u2022 Substandard food and problems with complaint systems
\u2022 A 2017 report found only one mental health provider for 1,800 detainees<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2022 Avellaneda-Delgado died May 5 but ICE did not announce it until May 8
\u2022 Molina-Veya died June 7 but ICE waited until June 11 to announce it
\u2022 The first six months of 2025 had the highest number of ICE custody deaths on record<\/p>\n\n\n\n