Denied entry to U.S., asylum-seeker kills himself
Eritrean national was in holding cell at Cairo airport
CAIRO — An Eritrean national who was denied asylum in the United States and was being sent back to his homeland has died in an apparent suicide in a holding area at Cairo International Airport, airport officials said on Saturday.
Zeresenay Ermias Testfatsion was a detainee of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and was being held by Egyptian authorities at the airport, awaiting his return to Asmara, Eritrea, ICE said.
Testfatsion, 34, was found dead on Wednesday in a shower area and his remains were taken to a hospital, ICE said.
Airport officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media, said he was found hanging.
His remains will be transported to Eritrea, ICE said in a statement, adding that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General and the ICE Office of Professional Responsibility were notified.
Homeland Security and the Eritrean embassies in the U.S. and Egypt did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Saturday.
Testfatsion, whose last name is spelled Tesfatsion in court records, had been in ICE custody since February 2017 following his arrest at the Hidalgo, Texas, Port of Entry after he tried to unlawfully enter the United States, ICE said.
Court records show Testfatsion went to the U.S. seeking asylum “for fear of returning to his country.”
Testfatsion was ordered deported in October 2017, and after he wasn’t deported within 90 days he petitioned to be released, arguing he should not be forced to stay in detention indefinitely because the Eritrean Consulate hadn’t taken action in his case.
His petition, dated Jan. 30, says ICE was working on travel documents but had not been able to remove him because the Eritrean government views those who leave the country as traitors, making it virtually impossible for him to get necessary travel documents.
The East African country has a history of being recalcitrant in accepting its deported citizens back from the U.S.