Dallas Green Card Holder Dies in ICE Detention in Laredo. ICE Says He Got His Status by Fraud; His Daughter Disagrees
Emiliano Andrade-Covarrubias, 56, a lawful permanent resident who raised three children in Dallas, died Saturday at the Rio Grande Processing Center. He is the seventh person to die in ICE custody in Texas this year. Here is what each side says.
A 56-year-old man who lived legally in Dallas for decades died Saturday in federal immigration detention in Laredo. His family and the government tell very different stories about how he got there and how he was treated.
Emiliano Andrade-Covarrubias was found unconscious in his bed at the Rio Grande Processing Center on Saturday morning, The Texas Tribune reported. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said staff performed chest compressions and called emergency services, but he was declared dead about 20 minutes after he was found unresponsive. He had been held since June.
The cause of death is unknown. ICE said Monday that the autopsy is pending with the Webb County Medical Examiner, and that he received proper medical care and was seen by medical professionals.
What ICE says
ICE confirmed he was a lawful permanent resident, a green card holder, in a statement released a day after the Tribune first reported his death.
According to ICE, officers detained him on June 26 as he returned to Texas from Mexico at a port of entry in Laredo. The agency said officers believed he obtained his legal status fraudulently because he did not disclose a 2004 arrest for theft during the review process.
ICE was seeking to deport him and said he was in removal proceedings before an immigration judge. Online records showed he was due in immigration court on Nov. 2.
What his family says
His daughter, Estefani Andrade, told the Tribune that her father did disclose his criminal record when he applied, and that immigration officials approved his green card anyway.
Andrade-Covarrubias raised three U.S.-born children in Dallas and painted apartments and townhomes for a living. He traveled to Mexico often because he was building a house there and planned to return, his daughter said.
She said he had a heart condition, diabetes and high blood pressure. He had his medicine with him when he was detained, but she said staff at the center would not "give him his medications." She said he told her he had a cough and trouble breathing and tightness in his chest, and that medical staff "would just ignore him." He had been hospitalized with COVID-19 in 2021, and the family said it left lasting damage.
Those are the family’s accounts. ICE’s statement says he received proper care. The autopsy and any investigation should help settle which account holds up.
Questions from Congress
U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, said he inspected the facility Sunday and asked about its medical procedures. Staff could not discuss the case because the death is under investigation, he said, and he has sent ICE written questions.
"Any death in federal custody is a serious matter, and we need to know what happened," Cuellar said.
Andrade-Covarrubias is the seventh person to die in ICE detention in Texas this year, according to the Tribune. The first was Geraldo Lunas Campos, whose death was ruled a homicide by the El Paso Medical Examiner’s office in January. He is also the second to die in an ICE facility in Laredo this year, after Felix Alcorta-Rodriguez, 63, died June 19 at the Webb County Detention Center after being found unresponsive.
The Supreme Court ruling behind cases like this
In June, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that officers at ports of entry may stop green card holders with any history of criminal arrests or convictions from reentering the country, the Tribune reported.
Writing for the majority, Justice Clarence Thomas said officers do not need "clear and convincing evidence that a lawful permanent resident has committed a crime involving moral turpitude." An immigration judge still has the final say on whether the person loses the green card and is deported.
In dissent, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson warned the court had "handed the Government a massive blank check" to put lawful permanent residents in "immigration limbo."
Where truth and mercy meet
Two things can be true at once. A nation has every right to enforce its laws and to strip status from someone who lied to get it, if that is what happened here. A green card is a privilege that rests on honest answers.
But a person in government custody is the government’s responsibility, whatever his status. A man with heart disease and diabetes who says he cannot breathe deserves a doctor’s attention, not a shrug. If staff ignored him, that is a wrong no immigration violation excuses. If they did not, the records will show it.
Texans have seen this question before in other settings. Whether it is children in state foster care or detainees in a federal center, the people holding the keys owe a full and honest accounting when someone in their care dies. His family, and the public, should get one.
