Ronald Cruz
Ronald Cruz was a 39-year-old Honduran man who died in 2018 while held in immigration detention at the South Texas Port Isabel Detention Center. ICE said he died of bacterial meningitis, but according to the reporting it did not initially order an autopsy and disclosed the cause only after his family said they would pay for one. Whistleblowers called his medical care grossly negligent, and an expert later said he likely would not have died if he had received antibiotics or earlier emergency care. The quality of his medical care is the central point of dispute in the accounts of his death.
Cause of death, as reported: Died of illness (disputed; neglect alleged). ICE gave the cause as bacterial meningitis, but whistleblowers say his medical care was grossly negligent, and an expert says he likely would have survived with antibiotics or earlier emergency care.
Reported by: ICE (the agency that held him); Whistleblowers (witnesses); An expert consulted by the family or in later reporting.