[Interview] His brother died alone in an ICE facility last year. He’s still looking for answers.

Yanfeng Ge, a 46-year-old Chinese national, is still grappling with the loss of his 32-year-old brother, Chaofeng. Yanfeng believes that his brother died due to the negligence of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) authorities at a detention facility. Chaofeng tragically took his own life in a shower room at an ICE detention center in Pennsylvania on August 5, 2025, according to the ICE fatality report.

The report states that center staff attempted to resuscitate Chaofeng, but the coroner declared him deceased an hour later. In an interview with Hankyoreh on May 21, Yanfeng said that his brother's suicide must have seemed like the only option available to him, considering the difficult circumstances he faced. He revealed that Chaofeng had requested a transfer to a facility with other Chinese inmates, but his request was denied.

Yanfeng also mentioned the poor conditions at these centers, with 30 people sharing a room, daily conflicts over sleeping arrangements, and a lack of adequate communication during medical consultations.

Yanfeng, who has also experienced detention himself, described the bleak conditions at these centers. He paid multiple visits to the detention facility to see his brother, but was denied entry due to concerns about his suicide risk. Despite this, Yanfeng protested that someone at risk of suicide needs the support of their family, a plea that fell on deaf ears.

Jeremy Ravinsky, an attorney representing Chaofeng's family, told Hankyoreh that it's challenging to determine the exact cause of death due to limited information provided by immigration authorities. He added that there are concerning aspects of the sequence of events leading to Chaofeng's death, and the family will continue to seek answers. The attorney emphasized that Chaofeng deserved better treatment than the detention center provided.

However, the immigration authorities' attitude towards the case has been equally concerning. They have not adequately explained the circumstances surrounding Chaofeng's death and carried out the autopsy without the family's consent. During the autopsy, family members learned that Chaofeng's hands and feet had been restrained, a detail omitted from ICE's fatality report. Yanfeng expressed his distrust, suggesting that perhaps the authorities wanted to obtain his organs, an assertion fueled by his intense skepticism.

ICE is accused of producing perfunctory reports that primarily aim to deflect potential litigation. The fatality report for Chaofeng barely mentions the specifics of his death, with the report solely stating that he was found hanging by the neck. The Hankyoreh reviewed 117 fatality reports compiled by ICE over the past nine years (2018-2026) and found that 30 reports (25.7%) fail to specify the cause of death.

Without the family's legal action, countless lives are reduced to another entry in a table of fatalities. The number of suicides at ICE detention facilities has increased to 12 since Donald Trump began his second term in January 2025, but it remains unclear if this number represents the full extent of the issue.