US senators raise alarm about deaths at a Georgia ICE facility. What to know
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- Two detainees died in 2025 at Stewart Detention Center or en route to it.
- Senators Ossoff and Warnock want DHS and ICE to explain delayed death reports.
- Stewart facility faces longstanding allegations of neglect, abuse and poor care.
Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, both Georgia Democrats, sent a letter Tuesday to high-level federal officials raising concern that two people have died at or on the way to Stewart Detention Center this year.
Stewart Detention Center is a federal facility in Lumpkin which houses people held by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. As President Donald Trump’s administration has ramped up deportations, advocates and people inside the facility have raised more alarm about conditions at Stewart Detention Center.
Jesus Molina-Veya, 45, died at Stewart in June, according to ICE. Abelardo Avellaneda-Delgado, 68, died in May while being transported to Stewart Detention Center from the Lowndes County Jail. Both were Mexican citizens, ICE said.
“We request that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and ICE immediately provide information about these individuals’ deaths and about the Administration’s plan to prevent further fatalities,” Warnock and Ossoff said in their letter, which was sent to Kristi Noem, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, and Todd Lyons, acting director of ICE.
ICE said at the time of his death that Molina-Veya died by suicide. Molina-Veya was repeatedly detained by U.S. officials over the past 25 years, according to ICE. ICE said Molina-Veya was arrested and convicted on several occasions while in the U.S., including for offenses of child molestation, hit-and-run and possession of controlled substances.
Avellaneda-Delgado became unresponsive while being taken to Stewart Detention Center, ICE said at the time. ICE did not provide more information about his cause of death when it announced the incident. Avellaneda-Delgado had been detained several times by U.S. law enforcement since 1979, ICE said, though the agency didn’t provide specifics on charges for his various arrests.
In the 68-year-old’s final detainment before his death, he was arrested for an alleged probation violation on local charges, ICE said.
Avellaneda-Delgado’s family “has stated publicly that he had no known preexisting health conditions before being detained in local custody,” Ossoff and Warnock said in their letter.
Ossoff and Warnock also said Stewart Detention Center has often been accused of mistreatment of people in the facility, an issue which is not new.
“Stewart has faced numerous allegations of civil rights and civil liberties violations, including reports of sexual abuse, medical neglect, overuse of solitary confinement, overcrowding, barriers to accessing legal representation, forced labor, substandard food, and issues with grievance reporting,” the senators said in their letter.
The senators said a 2017 report from the office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties showed there was an insufficient number of staff available to manage health needs for people held in the facility. Only one mental health provider was available to serve 1,800 people, Ossoff and Warnock said.
People recently held at the facility told the Ledger-Enquirer that health care and food inside Stewart Detention Center are substandard, and there are extensive difficulties in getting access to their lawyers.
Ossoff and Warnock accused ICE of failing to follow its own reporting guidelines in the deaths of both Avellaneda-Delgado and Molina-Veya. Policy requires the agency to report deaths within 48 hours, but it was three to four days before the deaths were publicly reported in these incidents.
Ossoff and Warnock have asked Noem and Lyons to answer more than a dozen questions relating to these deaths, including questions about Avellaneda-Delgado’s cause of death, health care practices at Stewart Detention Center, and why death notices were delayed for both incidents.
ICE didn’t immediately respond to request for comment for this story.
This story was originally published September 23, 2025 at 12:56 PM.