Calls for Government Action Following the Death of Salvador Vargas in Immigration Prison in Lumpkin, Georgia

Detention Watch Network, El Refugio, Project South, and the Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights have issued a press release calling for an independent investigation into the tragic death of Salvador Vargas, a 61 year old man held in immigration custody at the Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia.

The press release states:

Less than a month after a man died at an immigration detention facility in California, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced yesterday that Salvador Vargas, a 61-year-old man of Mexican descent, died in their custody on April 4th. Immediately before Mr. Vargas’s hospitalization, ICE was detaining him at the Stewart Detention Center (Stewart) in Lumpkin, Georgia, one of the largest and deadliest ICE detention centers in the country.

Stewart, a remote prison with a bed capacity of 2,016, has been the site of at least 10 other ICE custody deaths. Mr. Vargas’s death is not an anomaly. In just 20 years, over 200 people have died in ICE custody, with at least 10 occurring under the current Biden administration. The immigration detention system is undeniably dangerous and life-threatening.

Today, organizations including El Refugio, Georgia Detention Watch, Detention Watch Network, Project South, Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights, and Innovation Law Lab have called for an independent investigation into Mr. Vargas’s death, the liberation of all people who remain detained, and swift action by elected officials to close down the Stewart Detention Center permanently.

The full press release is available here.

IE