Third immigrant in ICE custody dies of COVID-19, officials say

A Mexican man being held in U.S. immigration custody in Florida died shortly after testing positive for the coronavirus, officials said Monday.

Onoval Perez-Montufa, 51, died Sunday at a Palm Beach County hospital, according to a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement news release. He had tested positive for COVID-19 on July 2 at the Glades County Detention Center in Moore Haven. Medical staff at the facility began treating him a day earlier after he complained of shortness of breath.

Perez-Montufa initially entered ICE custody June 15 following his release from federal prison in Massachusetts, where he had served 12 years for cocaine distribution. He was in ICE custody pending his removal to Mexico.

A Salvadoran man died in May after testing positive for coronavirus at a San Diego, California, ICE facility. A Guatemalan man died later that month at a Lumpkin, Georgia, facility.