The death of a second ICE detainee who died at Miami Correctional Facility has been deemed natural.
According to the Miami County Coroner’s Office, Tuan Van Bui, a 55-year-old Vietnamese national, died of hypertensive arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease, which involves the hardening of the arteries due to high blood pressure. Bui was pronounced dead at 6:10 p.m. on April 1 after staff found him unresponsive in his cell.
Bui is the second immigration detainee to die in the facility, which Trump administration officials nicknamed the “Speedway Slammer.” Lorth Sim, a 59-year-old man from Cambodia, died on Feb. 16 of natural causes from a combination of cardiovascular disease and diabetes.
The deaths have prompted calls for investigation and transparency from a Democratic member of Congress, civil liberty advocates and faith leaders. U.S. Rep. André Carson, D-Indianapolis, took a 45-minute oversight tour of the facility on April 9, during which he said detainees raised concerns about poor conditions, including emergency medical response time and access to medicine.
The maximum-security prison just outside of Kokomo has long been plagued with chronic understaffing, violence, high death tolls and drug use among inmates, an IndyStar investigation found.
Bui legally entered the US in 1990 under the Amerasian Homecoming Act, which granted visas to children born in Vietnam to American fathers and their immediate next-of-kin. A news release from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said that Bui never received or applied for American citizenship. His AM-1 visa could have qualified him for lawful permanent residency, often known as a ‘green card.’
Bui was ordered removed from the country by an immigration judge in 2005. He had “multiple convictions” at the time of his death, according to the ICE release. It’s unclear, however, if that’s what led to the removal order. Federal court records show that at the time of his death, Bui was challenging his detention through a habeas corpus case.
IndyStar reporters Ryan Murphy and Alexandria Burris contributed. Contact IndyStar reporter Kristine Phillips at (317) 444-3026 or at kphillips@indystar.com.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Second ICE detainee death at Miami prison linked to heart disease
Reporting by Kristine Phillips, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
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