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The family of Geraldo Lunas Campos is suing over the 55-year-old Cuban immigrant’s death at an ICE detention center in Texas earlier this year, with a local coroner ruling his death a homicide from asphyxia. The Department of Homeland Security said Lunas Campos had attempted suicide, but witnesses said he died after being restrained by multiple guards. The family’s lawsuit names four guards and multiple private companies overseeing the jail.

Perla Trevizo, a reporter with the ProPublica–Texas Tribune investigative unit, says Lunas Campos had a history of mental health issues and that he had complained before his death about lack of access to his medication.

“Witnesses say that they believe he was shackled. There were several guards. They took him down,” Trevizo says.

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org. I’m Amy Goodman.

ICE Was Warned About Conditions at Fort Bliss Migrant Jail. Then 2 Men Died.

As we continue on the issue of immigration enforcement, we’re going to talk to the — about the family of Geraldo Lunas Campos. He was a 55-year-old Cuban immigrant whose death in ICE custody was ruled a likely homicide. The family is suing four guards and the companies that oversaw Camp East Montana — a sprawling immigration detention tent camp at the Fort Bliss military base in El Paso, Texas — at the time of Campos’s death. The Washington Post reports his family is seeking more than a million dollars in damages from Acquisition Logistics, the company that oversaw Camp East Montana when Campos was killed; Akima, which employed the guards accused of killing Campos; and NANA Regional Corporation, Akima’s parent company.

Earlier this year, an autopsy report released by El Paso County Medical Examiner’s Office concluded Campos died from asphyxia caused by neck and torso compression, ruling his death a homicide. Before his death, Campos had complained of not getting the right dosage of medication to treat his bipolar disorder and anxiety. He had also expressed having suicidal thoughts. But instead of receiving proper care, Campos was placed in solitary confinement, where guards shackled and handcuffed him, repeatedly putting pressure on his neck and chest until his body went limp.

For more, we go to Philadelphia, where we’re joined by Perla Trevizo, reporter with the ProPublica–Texas Tribune investigative unit, her recent piece headlined “’He Didn’t Need to Die.’ How an Immigration Detention Center........

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