by Patricia Ortiz, Enlace Latino NC
[Editor’s Note: This story was originally published in Spanish by Enlace Latino NC, a nonprofit, Spanish-language newsroom in North Carolina, founded and led by immigrant journalists committed to serving the state’s Latino and Hispanic communities. It has been translated using Google Translate.]
A young Mexican man who lived in Durham and was in ICE custody died in a hospital in Augusta, Georgia, after developing an aggressive leukemia that quickly took his life.
Prisciliano Trejo Ricano began to feel ill while imprisoned in a detention center in Georgia, where he had been for three weeks and from where he reported not having received medical attention after presenting serious symptoms.
The 29-year-old man died on Friday, July 24 at 6:00 am, according to information provided to Enlace Latino NC by a relative.
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Prisciliano was arrested on June 19 in the Durham area and transferred to the Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia. So far this year, the deaths of 50 immigrants in ICE custody have been made public, including Prisciliano’s.
“We know his family is now grieving. Prisciliano was a young man who came to the United States at the age of 3 and was detained on June 19. He had many medical difficulties while in detention and, despite advocating for access to medical care, he was denied until he could no longer endure it,” he told Stefania Arteaga, founding director of the Carolina Migrant Network organization.
Specifically, with his organization Arteaga and other local groups, they held a vigil on Saturday, July 25 in Charlotte to remember Mexican worker Lorenzo Salgado Araujo and young Colombian Johan Sebastián Guerrero, who died a week apart, on July 7 and 13, after being shot by ICE agents in Texas and Maine.
There was a poignant moment at the event when Arteaga mentioned the names of 24 deceased immigrants out of the 50 who have died in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centers, including Prisciliano, since President Donald Trump took office.
He fell ill while in prison
During the three weeks that Prisciliano was detained in Stewart, he became very ill and called and video-called his family daily for emotional support.
“During his stay there, he exhibited high levels of stress, depression, and physical illness. He shared with his family on several occasions that he felt unwell, that he was coughing up blood, that he had pain, and a bruise that wouldn’t heal,” wrote a cousin of the young man in a GoFundMe fundraiser for funeral expenses.
On July 16, his family received a call from his lawyer, who informed them that Prisciliano had been transferred to a hospital in Atlanta and was in the intensive care unit.
“The news devastated the family, and they all drove between four and five hours to get to the hospital where he was being treated. At first, the family couldn’t visit him because Prisciliano was still in ICE custody , but eventually, the lawyers and ICE reached an agreement, and he was released from that custody,” his cousin wrote.
“It’s very difficult to see someone who almost never got sick and was in good health now intubated, connected to IV drugs and confined to a bed while fighting for their life,” he added.
Prisciliano reported his situation from the moment of his arrest
On July 10, Priscilliano turned 29 while in detention and thanked everyone for their greetings on his Facebook profile, where he described the dramatic situation he was going through.
“Here they treat you like a number or a placeholder. For the next batch of people coming and going. This week I’ve been dealing with a severe sore throat, coughing up blood morning and night, and very bad migraines, and I still haven’t been treated or given any medication,” Prisciliano said.
“It’s not that I’m not holding on tight. Through faith and the support of my family and friends who know. That doesn’t mean it’s easy either. There were days when I cried and felt helpless. This is truly the worst feeling of my life,” he continued writing.
“I pray for the people in this situation because it’s not easy. Most of these people aren’t even criminals. They’re either at work or coming home when they’re caught,” the young man added.
This article first appeared on Enlace Latino NC and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
