Beyond the Border: ICE medical care delays, another in-custody death and help for kids in custody
Here's what happened this week in immigration news.
Written by Emma Chen, Edited by Kate Morrissey
Welcome to another edition of Beyond the Border, which summarizes immigration news from across the country in a weekly roundup. Did we miss something? Message us via kate@daylightsandiego.org or on Instagram.
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College student arrest
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers arrested a San Diego City College student driving near campus and pursued another student passenger onto campus but didn't detain them, City Times reported.
KPBS reported that students rallied after the arrest of their peer, who is Haitian. Organizers said the arrest left some students afraid to attend class and criticizing the college administration’s response.
Another in-custody death
A Chinese immigrant died in ICE custody, this time within hours of his arrest, NPR reported.
PBS NewsHour reported that China is demanding answers from U.S. officials after 51-year-old Lianyong Wei died at a hospital just hours after entering ICE custody in the Northern Mariana Islands. Wei is the 24th person to die in ICE custody so far in 2026.
The U.N. human rights chief Volker Türk is calling for accountability because of the rising number of deaths in ICE custody, Euronews reported.
Medical care in custody
ABC News reported that Belarusian asylum seeker Katsiaryna Bartko is asking a federal court to release her from ICE custody, alleging that months of inadequate access to lifesaving medication have put her at risk of serious medical complications.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported that ICE has not paid medical providers for treatment for people in ICE custody since October 2025, leaving hospitals owed millions of dollars. Doctors said the unpaid bills have contributed to delays or denials of specialty care that endangered people’s health.
911 calls from inside the Camp East Montana immigration detention center revealed people and their relatives seeking outside emergency help amid reported failures to respond to medical and mental health emergencies, The Texas Tribune reported.
Third-country removals
The Associated Press reported that Guyana received six Cuban and Afghan immigrants from the U.S. under the Trump administration’s third-country removal program after Guyanese officials vetted them.
An Afghan man whose family members aided the U.S. military and who had protection from deportation to Afghanistan over fears of Taliban persecution was instead deported to the Central African Republic, Al Jazeera reported.
The American Prospect reported that ICE sent an estimated 71 people on a 26-hour third-country removal flight to Sierra Leone, the Central African Republic, and Ghana. Passengers alleged abusive treatment, and some people with protection orders were later sent toward countries where they feared returning.
Immigration court updates
“Mega master” immigration hearings have spread to Miami, placing more than 100 cases on some judges’ dockets at once and creating long lines and confusion as the administration tries to accelerate cases, NPR reported.
The Guardian reported that Department of Justice training instructed immigration judges to sharply restrict continuances, including by not allowing more than 10 days to find an attorney and not offering more time to people waiting for another government agency to process their visas or green cards.
Some immigrants challenging their detention have waited months for federal judges to rule on their release, with particularly long delays in Mississippi and Louisiana amid more than 70,000 habeas cases filed since January 2025, ProPublica reported.
ICE officer Christian Castro updates
CBS News reported that the Justice Department fired federal prosecutor Matthew Evans after he investigated ICE officer Christian Castro for possible civil rights violations connected to the shooting of Venezuelan immigrant Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis in Minnesota.
Federal prosecutors charged Castro with six counts of making false statements related to the shooting, The New York Times reported.
Castro turned himself in on Sept. 3 in McAllen, Texas, the Associated Press reported.
Other stories to watch
Pierre Damas Bel, a 20-year-old Haitian college student remembered as joyful, hardworking, and ambitious, had recently begun studying at Wright State University with the hopes of becoming a doctor when he died by suicide, NPR reported. His family said he struggled after losing Temporary Protected Status and being required to wear an ICE ankle monitor.
The Washington Post reported that a Maryland mother and wife of a U.S. citizen has been stranded in Guatemala after traveling there to complete the final steps of obtaining a green card, caught in the Trump administration’s suspension of visa processing for citizens of dozens of countries.
The Associated Press reported that the White House launched five retro-style online games promoting President Donald Trump’s policies, including immigration enforcement-themed games called “Build the Wall” and “Rio Run.”
L.A. Taco launched ICE Watch, a weekly newsletter aimed at giving readers a more manageable roundup of immigration enforcement news amid what the outlet describes as growing “ICE burnout.”
California mother Casey Revkin’s nonprofit is sending more than $10,000 a week to families detained at Dilley Immigration Processing Center in Texas so they can buy food and other necessities for their children, The Washington Post reported.
Attorneys from more than 50 organizations have joined the Children’s Due Process Project to seek the release of hundreds of children who have remained in federal immigration custody for months despite having relatives in the United States, The Guardian reported.
The Chicago Sun-Times reported that, based on recently unsealed court records, federal grand jurors sought testimony from former Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino in an assault case against a Midway Blitz protester before prosecutors dropped the case after new video undermined the allegations in the case.
CNN reported that a longtime undocumented immigrant e received a $1.8 million fine from the Department of Homeland Security nine months after he left the U.S. for Mexico following decades of living in the country without legal status.
The Texas Tribune reported that Harris County’s district attorney plans to take the fatal ICE shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo to a grand jury after saying federal officials failed to provide his office with key information about the shooting.
U.S. citizen Brian José Morales García returned to Texas after being wrongfully deported to Mexico following a traffic stop, which raised concerns about partnerships between local law enforcement and ICE, The Texas Tribune reported.
Sahan Journal reported that CoreCivic offered Appleton and Swift County, Minnesota, more than $1.5 million a year to offset lost tax revenue from a shuttered prison as the company prepares to operate it as a 1,600-bed ICE detention facility.
The New York Times reported that at least 20 hog farms owned by Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen, who has supported the Trump administration’s immigration policies, employed undocumented workers, while Pillen said he never knowingly hired anyone without legal status.
Thanks for reading! Take care and stay well.
— Emma
