In another grim episode in President Donald Trump's crackdown on immigrants, two detainees died in a span of two days while in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody.
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A Panamanian national and an Indian national died on Monday and Tuesday, respectively, after being detained by ICE officials for nearly two months.
The Indian national, Atulkumar Babubhai Patel, arrived in Atlanta on May 10 from Ecuador's Andean capital of Quito. Patel was detained because he couldn't present the proper immigration documents. According to the ICE documents, he had high blood pressure and diabetes and was sent to the hospital Saturday after a nurse noticed he was short of breath. Patel died of complications from congestive heart failure.
Panamanian national Jean Jimenez-Joseph, was in the midst of immigration removal proceedings when he died. Jimenez-Joseph was picked up by immigration officers in March after he was released from jail having served time for a felony larceny of a motor vehicle.
Jimenez-Joseph was in solitary confinement for 19 days at the Stewart Detention Center in Wake County, North Carolina, where he was found dead Monday, in what ICE is calling a suicide.
According to new federal data, over 40,000 immigrants have been arrested since Trump's January executive order, which accounts for a 38 percent increase from the same period in 2016.