
Roxsana Hernández was a 33-year-old transgender woman from Honduras who died while in ICE custody at Lovelace Medical Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on May 25, 2018. As part of a migrant caravan, she traveled more than 2,000 miles to get away from Honduras after being gang-raped by MS-13 members, which gave her HIV. On May 9, 2018, she came to the San Ysidro Port of Entry to ask for asylum. She was put in a freezing cold cell called a “icebox” after being arrested, and then she was moved between several different facilities, even though she was clearly sick. ICE and CBP both knew she had HIV, but neither of them gave her antiretroviral medications while she was in detention. An independent autopsy commissioned by her family found that she probably died from severe dehydration made worse by HIV. It also found bruises and injuries that were consistent with being physically abused while in custody. ICE deleted video of her time at the Cibola County Correctional Center, a private prison run by CoreCivic, before it could be preserved as evidence. No one was held accountable for her death.

