Felix Franklin Rodriguez-Torres
Felix Rodriguez-Torres, 36, was an Ecuadorian construction worker. He died on January 18, 2007, while held by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the Eloy Federal Contract Facility in Phoenix, Arizona. ICE's official list gives the cause of death as a germ cell tumor with metastasis. The ACLU, drawing on records obtained through FOIA requests and reported by the New York Times, says the cancer was fast-growing but treatable and that officials had not diagnosed it, and says his death was kept from public view until those documents were released.
Cause of death, as reported: Died of illness (neglect alleged). ICE says he died of a germ cell tumor with metastasis, while a New York Times report on ACLU FOIA documents says officials did not diagnose his treatable testicular cancer, which the ACLU says left it to grow.
Reported by: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (the agency that held him); New York Times reporting on ACLU FOIA documents (reporters); ACLU (advocates).