DHS excludes two recent detainee deaths from official count

The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands Department of Public Safety arrested Wei on Aug. 21 after he allegedly attacked a family in their home, officials said. A day later, Wei, whose legal immigration status ended in 2019, was taken into ICE custody “without incident, pending his removal proceedings.”

The 51-year-old was found unresponsive during morning checks the next day by a corrections officer at the Saipan facility, which is run by the Northern Mariana Islands Department of Corrections. Wei was pronounced dead at approximately 7:30 a.m. local time on Aug. 23, according to ICE. After he was discovered, Wei “was immediately transported to the Commonwealth Health Care Corporation Emergency Room and life-sustaining interventions were initiated,” ICE said.

His official cause of death remains under investigation.

Under Department of Homeland Security regulations, all immigrant detainees must receive a basic health screening within 12 hours of intake. DHS declined to respond to requests from NPR to verify that Wei had undergone such an evaluation. Instead, the agency offered the following standard language: “Comprehensive medical care is provided from the moment individuals arrive and throughout the entirety of their stay.”

Wei’s death is the 57th of an immigrant detainee held in the care of the government since the start of President Trump’s second term, according to ICE’s detainee death notifications. Twenty-four of those have occurred since Jan. 1.

The government’s official tally does not include Jose Chajon-Raxon, a Guatemalan man detained at Newark, New Jersey’s Delaney Hall Detention Center on July 18. In a statement to NPR, DHS officials said that a day after going through intake, Chajon-Raxon suffered “seizure-like activity” requiring emergency medical care and was transferred to a local hospital. DHS said Chajon-Raxon was released from ICE custody on July 22.

It remains unclear whether he died on the same day he was released; DHS officials did not respond to inquiries from NPR seeking clarification. Chajon-Raxon is the third person to die after experiencing a medical emergency at Delaney Hall since the facility reopened in May 2025.

Also excluded from the government’s count is Prisciliano Trejo, who died exactly five weeks after he was arrested by ICE. Trejo was held at the Stewart Detention Center in Georgia while suffering from leukemia. His family told the Detention Watch Network that the 29-year-old asked for medical help on July 6. The request was not approved for eight days. By July 15, Trejo had fallen into a coma. That same day, ICE released him from custody. Trejo died on July 24.

In June, the Trump administration eliminated a Biden-era policy requiring ICE to report deaths occurring within 30 days of people being released from custody. “Per ICE policy, when an individual is no longer in ICE custody, then ICE will no longer be responsible for monitoring or reviewing deaths that may occur,” DHS officials told NPR.

They added: “This is common sense. ICE is not responsible when an individual passes away weeks after leaving their custody.”