Nhon Ngoc Nguyen

Nhon Ngoc Nguyen (Texas) was a 55-year-old Vietnamese refugee who entered the US in 1983 under the Refugee Act of 1980. He spent years living in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and was well-known among his neighbors for his commitment to his family and passion for soccer. He was suffering from severe dementia. He was taken into custody by ICE officers on February 24, 2025, at a routine check-in appointment in Albuquerque. ICE’s own intake assessment could not be finished two days after he arrived at the El Paso Processing Center because he was too disoriented to respond to any questions, was unable to walk normally, and needed help with all his daily activities. He was immediately transferred to the Long Term Acute Care Hospital in El Paso, where doctors noted small-vessel ischemia changes of the brain, gradual dementia, altered mental status, and brain atrophy. He was moved back and forth between the hospital and the detention facility several times over the course of the following seven weeks, being released from custody when his condition momentarily improved and then rehospitalized when it deteriorated once again. His family in Dallas was did not know his location from mid-February until ICE told them in late March that he was ready for release but required round-the-clock medical attention. Due to his terminal illness, attending physicians issued a Do-Not-Resuscitate order on April 14, 2025. On April 16, 2025, he passed away. He died of severe pneumonia with dementia as a secondary cause, according to an autopsy. According to his lawyer, the family thought ICE had been careless. “I think there are a lot of questions that need to be answered in how ICE treats people who are sick,” the lawyer said to reporters. Despite being aware from the first day that he was unable to walk, could not speak coherently, or take care of himself, ICE had kept him in custody.