El Salvador 1982

The 56-year-old Mexican man who died Saturday while in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody was a lawful permanent resident in the country, the agency said in a statement. ICE added he was detained because officers believed he obtained his legal status in the U.S. fraudulently. https://t.co/24Cr9Tgl4q

— Texas Tribune (@TexasTribune) October 19, 2026

 This is what the law calls a “fact question:”

The 56-year-old Mexican man who died Saturday while in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody was a lawful permanent resident in the country, the agency said in a statement a day after The Texas Tribune reported about his death.

Emiliano Andrade-Covarrubias, 56, was found unconscious in his bed at the Rio Grande Processing Center on Saturday morning. ICE said staff performed chest compressions and called emergency services, but he was declared dead about 20 minutes after being found unresponsive. He had been in immigration detention since June.

ICE on Monday said Andrade-Covarrubias’ cause of death is still unknown, as the autopsy was still pending with the Webb County Medical Examiner. The agency also said he received proper medical care and was seen by medical professionals.

In the statement, ICE said Andrade-Covarrubias was returning to Texas from Mexico at a port of entry in Laredo when immigration officers detained him on June 26. ICE added that he was detained because officers believed he obtained his legal status in the U.S. fraudulently because he failed to disclose a 2004 arrest for theft during the review process.

The agency was also seeking to deport him, saying that he was in removal proceedings before an immigration judge. Andrade-Covarrubias was supposed to appear at an immigration court hearing on Nov. 2, according to online records.

Andrade-Covarrubias’ daughter, Estefani Andrade, told the Tribune that her father did bring up his criminal record during the application process — and that immigration officials approved his green card application.

Andrade-Covarrubias had lived for decades in Dallas, where he raised three children who were all born in the U.S. He painted apartments and townhomes for a living, and his daughter said he was planning to return to Mexico. He traveled to Mexico often because he was building a house there, she added.

This is a matter that should have prompted a civil suit, to settle the factual issue. Instead, the man is dead, and ICE says: “Shit happens.”

This is as lawless as gunning down people in the streets. ICE released a statement on the death after the Texas Tribune reported it. Was ICE planning to simply “disappear” him?