Immigrant detained with COVID-19 dies in Georgia Area hospital

COLUMBUS, Ga. (AP) – A 57-year-old Mexican who was held in immigration custody in southwest Georgia has died as a result of COVID-19, according to federal authorities.

Felipe Montes died early Saturday in a Columbus hospital of “cardiopulmonary arrest as a result of complications from coronavirus disease”. This comes from a press release from the US Immigration and Customs Service. Montes entered ICE detention on December 28 and had been held in the Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin until January 10 when he was hospitalized.

Montes was the fourth detainee held at the immigration detention center in southwest Georgia and died after testing positive for COVID-19, according to the ICE website. A total of nine people who tested positive for the coronavirus died in federal immigration custody.

The Stewart Detention Center had registered a total of 474 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the middle of last week, followed by La Palma Correctional Facility in Eloy, Arizona, which had 544 confirmed cases.

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