19‑Year‑Old Mexican Detainee Dies in Apparent Suicide at Florida ICE Facility

ICE officials say 19‑year‑old Mexican national Royer Perez‑Jimenez died early Monday at the Glades County Detention Center in Moore Haven, Florida, after he was found unconscious and unresponsive in his cell around 2:34 a.m. Staff began CPR before two medical professionals arrived, determined he had no pulse, and continued resuscitation efforts until local fire rescue took over, but he was pronounced dead. ICE says the death is believed to be a suicide, though the official cause remains under investigation, and notes that Perez‑Jimenez had answered "no" to all suicide‑screening questions when he arrived at the facility in late February. He was arrested in Volusia County on Jan. 22 on felony fraud for impersonation and misdemeanor resisting an officer, placed on an ICE detainer the same day, taken into ICE custody Feb. 21, and transferred to Glades on Feb. 26, after previously being voluntarily returned to Mexico by Border Patrol in 2022 and reentering on an unknown date. Under ICE policy, DHS, its Office of Inspector General, and ICE’s Office of Professional Responsibility have been notified, along with the Mexican consulate and Perez‑Jimenez’s next of kin, setting up formal internal reviews that come amid longstanding criticism and litigation over medical and mental‑health care in immigration detention. The case adds to a pattern of in‑custody deaths that immigrant‑rights groups routinely cite as evidence that federal suicide screening and monitoring are failing, a narrative likely to intensify as details about his time in detention emerge.