Undocumented immigrant from Nicaraguan dies from COVID-19 at Texas hospital while waiting to be deported by ICE
A Nicaraguan woman died from COVID-19 while she was awaiting to be deported by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Elba María Centeno Briones was declared dead Wednesday at Valley Baptist Medical Center in Harlingen, Texas, where she had been hospitalized since July 27, ICE said in a statement.
The 37-year-old Nicaraguan national was stopped by U.S. Border Patrol agents after unlawfully crossing the Unites States-Mexico border near Brownsville, Texas, on July 26.
U.S. Border Patrol turned over Centeno Briones the following day to ICE as part of the process to expel her to Nicaragua.
Elba María Centeno Briones, a migrant from Nicaragua awaiting to be deported, died Wednesday in custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. She was stopped by U.S. Border Patrol agents after unlawfully crossing the Unites States-Mexico border near Brownsville, Texas, on July 26. U.S. Border Patrol turned over Centeno Briones the following day to ICE and was transferred to the El Valle Detention Center in Raymonville, Texas, where she tested positive and was rushed to the hospital soon after her symptoms worsened
Elba María Centeno Briones, of Nicaragua, died at the Valley Baptist Medical Center in Harlingen, Texas, on Wednesday, after week after the medical team at ICE's El Valle Detention Center in Raymonville, Texas, rushed her there after she tested positive for the coronavirus
She was taken to the El Valle Detention Center in Raymonville, Texas, and was given a medical exam as well as a COVID-19 test, which came back negative the same day of her arrival at the facility.
According to ICE, Centeno Briones symptoms worsened soon after the test results and she was rushed to Valley Baptist Medical Center, where she passed away.
Elba María Centeno Briones was is one of at least 10 migrants who have died of the coronavirus while under the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
ICE's El Valle Detention Center in Raymonville, Texas, has tested 559 detainees who have tested positive for the coronavirus, including 20 who are being monitored or are under observation.
ICE data updated Friday showed that nine people - not including Centeno Briones - have died under its custody since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
A total of 22,924 migrants under ICE custody have tested positive, of which 1,082 are currently being monitored or are under observation.
At El Valle Detention Center in Raymonville, Texas, at least 559 detainees have tested positive, including 20 who are being treated or separated from the rest of the inmate population.
'ICE is firmly committed to the health and welfare of all those in its custody and is undertaking a comprehensive agency-wide review of this incident, as it does in all such cases,' the federal immigration agency said in a statement. 'Fatalities in ICE custody, statistically, are exceedingly rare and occur at a fraction of the national average for the U.S. detained population.'