STURGIS, MI - A Mexican man in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) died on Thursday, Feb. 20, more than two months after he was arrested in Sturgis, Michigan, officials say.

David Hernandez Colula, 34, was pronounced dead at 1:49 a.m. by medical professionals at Mercy Health-St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital, where he was transported after facility staff found him unresponsive in his cell, ICE said in a Feb. 21 news release.

The preliminary cause of death appears to be self-inflicted strangulation; however, the case is currently under investigation, ICE said. Efforts by facility staff and emergency personnel to revive him were unsuccessful, ICE said in a statement.

He died at a private prison facility in Youngstown, Ohio, less than two weeks before it is scheduled to stop housing ICE detainees on Feb. 29.

Hernandez Colula entered ICE custody Dec. 6, 2019, upon release from the St. Joseph County Jail in Centerville, Michigan, following a Dec. 4, 2019, arrest by Sturgis Police Department for an outstanding warrant.

He was originally booked into Calhoun County Jail in Battle Creek, and transferred Dec. 10, 2019, to Northeast Ohio Correctional Center in Youngstown to continue his immigration proceedings.

Transfers can happen for a variety of reasons, according to ICE Spokesman Khaalid Walls.

“Transfers in ICE custody are made by authorized officials on the basis of complete and accurate case information, as outlined in ICE detention standards, and are undertaken as needed for a variety for reasons to include (but are not limited to) available space, court appearances or in preparation to depart the U.S. There is nothing unusual about transfers from one location to another,” Walls said in an email message.

The Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General, and the ICE Office of Professional Responsibility has been notified of the death. Additionally, ICE notified the Mexican consulate and Hernandez Colula’s next of kin, ICE said.

“ICE is firmly committed to the health and welfare of all those in its custody and is undertaking a comprehensive agency-wide review of this incident, as it does in all such cases. Fatalities in ICE custody, statistically, are exceedingly rare and occur at a fraction of the national average for the U.S. detained population,” ICE said in a statement.

ICE’s comprehensive review will be conducted by ICE senior leadership to include Enforcement and Removal Operations, the Office of Professional Responsibility and the Office of the Principal Legal Advisor, the agency said.

Hernandez Colula was previously apprehended by U. S. Border Patrol Dec. 4, 2014 in Rochester, New York, and transferred into ICE custody pending removal proceedings. He was released on bond Dec. 8, 2014. An immigration judge changed venue to Cleveland, Ohio, following the relocation of Mr. Hernandez Colula, according to ICE.

A gofundme has been established with a goal of raising money for funeral expenses and burial in Mexico.

ICE will stop using Northeast Ohio Correctional Center to house immigrants this week, Cleveland.com reports.

ICE officials said in a statement that its contract with CoreCivic, the Nashville-based owner of the 2,016-bed Northeast Ohio Correctional Center, ends Feb. 29 and that the prison “was never meant to be a permanent ICE detention location," according to Cleveland.com.

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