Department of Homeland Security review finds delayed diagnosis and inappropriate care at Joe Corley Processing Center in the death of Luis Nuñez Caceres.Sharon Steinmann / Houston Chronicle and GoFundMe photo of Luis Nuñez CaceresMedical staff delayed care and failed to provide appropriate treatment to a Honduran immigrant who died in January in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials in Conroe, according to a government report.Luis Núñez Cáceres, 42, suffered cardiac arrest three times on Jan. 5. Doctors at Conroe Regional Medical Center revived him twice, but he died after their third resuscitation attempt failed. His death came after medical staff at the Joe Corley Processing Center failed to “initiate appropriate diagnostic evaluation” while he was detained there, according to a Feb. 27 report from the Department of Homeland Security’s Mortality Review Committee.Article continues below this adStaff at the detention facilities also failed to monitor Núñez Cáceres’ use of prescription medication and did not complete medical evaluations on time, the report found. He had been detained for seven weeks.Núñez Cáceres was one of at least eight immigrants who died in ICE custody in Texas during the federal fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2026. More than 36 people died in ICE custody nationwide during the same period, an increase of at least 50% from the 24 deaths recorded in 2025, according to official ICE statistics.Houston Chronicle LogoMake us a Preferred Source on Google to see more of us when you search.Add Preferred SourceThe committee’s report on Núñez Cáceres was one of more than two dozen reports briefly posted on ICE’s website late last month and removed without explanation. The records remained available in internet archives and were first reported by the San Francisco Chronicle and The American Prospect.Article continues below this adImmigrant advocates have argued for years that most deaths in custody are preventable. They have called on Democratic and Republican administrations to provide greater access to medical care and use alternatives to detention, such as electronic monitoring, for people with health conditions."Systemic failures in the delivery of medical and mental health care in detention have caused or contributed to an overwhelming number of deaths that would likely otherwise have been prevented in ICE detention,” the American Civil Liberties Union and Physicians for Human Rights concluded in a 2024 report. In a statement to the Houston Chronicle, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson did not specifically address the report on Núñez Cáceres’ death or its findings of inappropriate treatment and delayed care. Instead, the department cited statistics showing that the number of people who have died in ICE custody has remained consistent over the past decade. “Death rates in custody are 0.008% of the detained population. As bed space has rapidly expanded, we have maintained a higher standard of care than most prisons that hold U.S. citizens — including providing access to proper medical care,” the spokesperson said.The spokesperson then referred to ICE’s original statement about Núñez Cáceres’ death in January. The statement was released weeks before the agency completed its mortality review.Article continues below this adThe Joe Corley Processing Center is seen in July 2020, in Conroe.Jason Fochtman/Staff photographer“ICE is committed to ensuring that all those in custody reside in safe, secure and humane environments. Comprehensive medical care is provided from the moment individuals arrive and throughout the entirety of their stay,” the statement reads.Yet the government’s internal review calls into question the veracity of ICE’s original statement.Discrepancies and delaysICE agents apprehended Núñez Cáceres in Houston on Nov. 17, placed him in removal proceedings and transferred him to the Montgomery Processing Center in Conroe the next day. He underwent a series of medical evaluations related to several chronic conditions, including high blood pressure, high cholesterol, congestive heart failure, diabetes and tuberculosis. Article continues below this adThe evaluations also noted that Núñez Cáceres underwent lung surgery in 2012. He was placed in medical isolation for treatment and additional testing and transferred to the Joe Corley Processing Center on Nov. 25. In its review, the DHS Mortality Review Committee noted that an advanced practice provider at the Joe Corley Processing Center “acknowledged clinical suspicion” that Núñez Cáceres had congestive heart failure, but did not order an echocardiogram to evaluate his heart function. Staff also failed to monitor Núñez Cáceres’ weight for signs of fluid buildup, a common symptom of heart failure. Such monitoring could have prompted medical intervention and an adjustment to Núñez Cáceres’ treatment.The report notes that medical staff also delayed Núñez Cáceres’ initial evaluation. “His comprehensive health assessment was completed 10 days after it was assigned, although facility protocol required completion within one day for patients with chronic conditions such as heart disease,” the report states.Article continues below this adBefore his death in January, a medical transfer summary for Núñez Cáceres contained “multiple discrepancies,” including documentation describing a chest X-ray taken in mid-November as normal. A radiology report dated six days later showed an “abnormal finding suspicious” for tuberculosis. A nurse also documented that Núñez Cáceres did not have tuberculosis, even though he was receiving treatment for the disease.The report notes that medical staff at the Joe Corley Processing Center learned in December that Núñez Cáceres had been taking more furosemide — a diuretic used to treat fluid buildup and high blood pressure — than prescribed. Clinicians did not order tests to check for complications from an overdose, including low potassium levels, which can lead to sudden cardiac arrest.When the review was conducted in February, Núñez Cáceres’ autopsy was still pending, and the report did not include his cause of death. The Montgomery County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled that the cause was “acute right coronary artery dissection,” a tear in an artery attributed to heart disease and high blood pressure. The medical examiner also listed diabetes and chronic substance abuse as “other significant conditions.”Facilities ‘stretched thinner’Human rights and immigrant advocacy groups have pointed to growing detention-center populations during President Donald Trump’s historic immigration crackdown as a major factor in the deterioration in medical care.An analysis of deaths in ICE custody published by Human Rights Watch and Physicians for Human Rights in June found that most fatalities occurred in detention centers where populations were much higher than in previous years. The report examined 52 deaths that occurred between January 20, 2025, and June 4, 2026.The average daily population at the Joe Corley Processing Center during the two weeks leading up to Núñez Cáceres’ death was about 300% higher than the center’s average population, according to the report.The authors note that although “it is impossible to attribute any causal relationship between detention population size and specific deaths,” the “substandard medical care that Human Rights Watch and Physicians for Human Rights have repeatedly documented in ICE detention facilities over years of research can only be stretched thinner when facilities are above average population.”The analysis concludes that the increase in fatalities is the result of long-term systemic problems and policies implemented during the Trump administration’s second term.“Soaring detention numbers since January 2025 expose more people to poor detention conditions and lead to more crowded facilities, which in turn worsens sanitation concerns and further strains the provision of health care,” the report states.Oct 7, 2026Immigration ReporterJulián Aguilar is an immigration reporter for the Houston Chronicle. An El Paso native, Aguilar’s journalism career began in 2007 at the Laredo Morning Times. He joined the Texas Tribune in 2009 and extensively reported on immigration, border security and the drug trade for the nonprofit news organization until 2021. His stories on immigration took him from El Paso to border towns in the Rio Grande Valley. Aguilar was part of a team of Tribune journalists who wrote a series of stories about “the reality and the rhetoric” about immigration in Texas. He journeyed by raft with smugglers who ferry people from Guatemala to Mexico, and rode with police officers patrolling the gang-controlled streets of El Salvador. After leaving the Tribune, Aguilar worked at KERA News from 2022 to 2024, then became a freelance reporter. He attended the University of Texas and earned his master's degree in journalism at the University of North Texas.