ICE blows past federal deadline mandating report on Nassau jail death

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has violated a congressionally mandated deadline to release details about the death of a 42-year-old immigrant father who died in a Nassau County jail last year.

Federal agents arrested Santos Banegas Reyes Sept. 17 while en route to his construction job, detaining him in an East Meadow jail cell that afternoon. By 6:30 a.m. the next day, a Nassau police medic declared him dead.

ICE said at the time his cause of death was "still under investigation," but that it appeared to be liver failure from alcoholism — a claim his family disputes.

Because he died in ICE custody, a report chronicling his death should have been made public within 90 days. Banegas Reyes died more than 110 days ago.

The reporting deadline was established by Congress in a 2018 spending bill, and exceptions can be made if more time is needed for redacting "personally identifiable information."

"This unacceptable delay is just a continuation of ICE's attempt to cover up what happened to Santos," Oscar Michelen, the family's attorney, told Newsday. "We need Congress to force ICE to produce their full report immediately."

Thirty-two people died in ICE custody last year, making it the agency’s deadliest year in more than two decades, the Guardian reported. In 2024, 11 people died in ICE custody.

Detainees have died of seizure, stroke and suicide, in some cases with families alleging officials neglected to provide medical care, according to ICE reports. 

As of November, ICE was detaining nearly 67,000 people nationwide, nearly 74% of whom had no criminal convictions, according to immigration data analyzed by Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse.

Banegas Reyes’ family, who says the father of two had no criminal record, questioned ICE’s explanation of his death. 

"How could he die so quickly? That is absurd," his sister told Newsday last year in Spanish. Liver failure "takes a long time to develop," she added.

The family is seeking an independent autopsy, Michelen said.

Banegas Reyes, originally from Honduras, had been deported three times between 2004 and 2019, entering the United States illegally at least four times, according to ICE.

He went through a medical intake process and was cleared for detention within two hours of arriving at the Nassau County Correctional Center in September, according to the agency. Less than 18 hours later, he was found "unresponsive" in his cell and "not breathing," according to Nassau police.

The publishing of detainee death reports has stalled since late September, with the last detailing the death of a California detainee who died several days after Banegas Reyes. ICE did not respond to an inquiry about the status of his report.

Nassau County Sheriff Anthony LaRocco said in September that officials were conducting a "thorough and transparent" investigation.

New York Attorney General Letitia James is still reviewing the death, as required by law, according to a spokesperson.

In a statement to Newsday this week, Chris Boyle, a spokesman for the county, wrote, “We are fully cooperating with the Attorney General’s investigation and the Attorney General will issue their report when the investigation is complete."

The sheriff’s department has not replied to Newsday’s public records requests for video footage of Banegas Reyes’ detention.

Rep. Laura Gillen (D-Rockville Centre), who said she was contacting federal, state and local officials and calling for an investigation into Banegas Reyes’ death, also did not respond to questions about whether that investigation took place.