The brother of a Chinese immigrant who died in US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody in August has filed a lawsuit against the US government, demanding answers and accountability for his sibling’s death.
According to the complaint filed on Thursday in the Southern District of New York, 32-year-old Chaofeng Ge was found hanging by his neck in a shower stall “with his hands and legs tied behind his back” at the Moshannon Valley Processing Centre (MVPC) in Pennsylvania.
In the filing, his brother, Yanfeng Ge, alleged Chaofeng was isolated because no one at the facility spoke Chinese and staff made no effort to communicate with him.
“Mr Ge was isolated because no one in the facility could speak Chinese. MVPC staff refused even to try to communicate with him, much less offer him the mental healthcare that he so urgently needed,” the complaint said.
It added that Yanfeng Ge submitted a request under the Freedom of Information Act on September 9 for records on his brother’s detention, treatment by MVPC personnel, and the circumstances of his death, but US authorities missed the response deadline. He is now asking the court to order the agencies to release all related records.
A notice issued by ICE in August said Chaofeng Ge was brought to the MVPC on July 31, after being convicted of accessing an electronic device issued to another without authorisation.
According to ICE, staff immediately began life-saving measures, including CPR and using a defibrillator, while contacting 911 and law enforcement after finding Ge at 5.20am on August 5. Despite their efforts, he was pronounced dead by the Clearfield County Coroner; the death was determined to be a suicide.
“I don’t know how he could have had the opportunity to take his own life. What drove him to do so? But at least these things should not happen to people who are in the government’s custody,” Yanfeng Ge said after filing the complaint.
The lawsuit highlights concerns over US immigration detention, noting that record-high numbers of people, including a sharp rise in Asian immigrants, are allegedly being held in overcrowded facilities with limited access to medical and mental healthcare.
Advocates warn that language barriers, isolation and systemic neglect put vulnerable populations at heightened risk, fuelling scrutiny of ICE practices and calls for transparency and accountability.
Another Chinese national, Huabing Xie, died on September 29 after a seizure at the Imperial Regional Detention Facility in Calexico, California.
Freedom for Immigrants, a California-based non-profit group, issued a statement in October demanding an immediate investigation and public release of findings in Xie’s death, saying that “shockingly, there have been at least 20 deaths in ICE custody since Trump’s inauguration, a record number of deaths within a calendar year”.
Data available on ICE’s website shows 18 deaths occurred in the 2025 financial year; the list does not include Xie. The agency is legally obliged to report detention deaths within 90 days.
An October report by the American Immigration Council, a non-profit based in Washington, found that 2025 marks the deadliest year for ICE detainees since 2020, when Covid-19 contributed to a high death toll.
The report noted that in less than a year, the number of people detained in ICE facilities rose nearly 50 per cent, with the Department of Homeland Security currently holding close to 60,000 people.
The increase in fatalities is linked to severe overcrowding, poor detention conditions, medical neglect and extreme mental distress, the report said. This surge comes amid a sharp rise in Asian immigrant detentions, raising concerns that systemic issues are putting vulnerable populations at greater risk.
A report by the UCLA Asian-American Studies Centre published in July found that total Asian immigrant arrests nearly tripled from under 700 in 2024 to almost 2,000 between February and May 2025. Arrests in the first week of June were almost nine times higher than the same week the previous year.
The proportion of detainees who were convicted criminals fell from nearly half in the first three months of 2025 to less than a third in early June.
Among those arrested, nearly a third were from China, over a quarter from India and almost a sixth from Vietnam. - SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
