19-year-old dies in South Florida immigration detention center

Shira Moolten, South Florida Sun Sentinel on Mar 19, 2026

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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A 19-year-old from Mexico died Monday at a South Florida immigration detention center, according to a release from Immigrations and Customs Enforcement.

Royer Perez-Jimenez was found unresponsive by a detention officer at the Glades County Detention Facility in Moore Haven a little after 2:30 a.m., the release said, adding that “he died of a presumed suicide; however, the official cause of his death remains under investigation.”

Perez-Jimenez was initially arrested on Jan. 22 by deputies with the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office after deputies said he was riding a scooter across the street without using the crosswalk, according to a probable cause affidavit. When deputies tried to perform a traffic stop on him, he continued on his scooter. After they detained him, he gave them a false name, the affidavit said.

He was charged with giving a false identity to law enforcement and resisting a police officer. On Feb. 21, he was transferred to ICE custody, and within a few days, he was taken to the Glades detention center. Federal officials determined that he had originally entered the U.S. in 2022, at which point U.S. Border Patrol “granted a voluntary return to Mexico.” At some point, Perez-Jimenez returned to the U.S., which is a federal felony, the release said.

At his intake, Perez-Jimenez was evaluated and “denied any behavioral health issues or concerns,” the release said, adding that he “answered ‘no’ to all suicide screening questions.”

The Glades County Detention Facility has received numerous complaints about human rights abuses over the last six years, including allegations about medical neglect, racism against Black detainees and sexual harassment and voyeurism. In 2022, several members of Congress led by Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz wrote a letter to the Department of Homeland Security, asking for it to be shut down. In response to the complaints, the Biden administration in 2022 limited the use of the facility, citing “persistent and ongoing concerns related to the provision of detainee medical care, and because the facility is of limited operational significance.” In 2025, the Trump administration announced that it would begin housing inmates there again.

“ICE is committed to ensuring that all those in custody reside in safe, secure and humane environments. Comprehensive medical care is provided from the moment individuals arrive and throughout the entirety of their stay,” the ICE release states. “All people in ICE custody receive medical, dental and mental health intake screenings within 12 hours of arriving at each detention facility; a full health assessment within 14 days of entering ICE custody or arrival at a facility; access to medical appointments; and 24-hour emergency care. At no time during detention is a detained alien denied emergency care.”