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VERIFY: Did a child die in ICE custody at a Dilley detention center?

We contacted the lawyer that made the claim, ICE, and the American Immigration Lawyers Association to see if a child really died in ICE custody.

We’ve spent the last 72 hours trying to verify a tweet that has gone viral.

Here’s the tweet:

“There are reports that a child died in ICE custody in Dilley, Texas. Getting more information as the story develops. It’s unclear where the parent(s) of the child is. Some reports indicate that they maybe in New Jersey while child was in Texas.”

That tweet and subsequent claims of how the child died have gone viral.

So is it true? To learn more, we reached out to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the lawyer who sent the original tweet, and the American Immigration Lawyers Association.

Here’s what we’ve been able to verify:

ICE sent us a statement saying the tweet is false and points out that the tweet was “retracted.” The agency is, “looking into the report of the death after custody,” but without a name or date of birth, they are unable to give us any more information.

Mana Yegani is the Houston lawyer who posted the tweet. She deleted it.

Later, she sent a new tweet saying:

“Update: The child died following her stay at an ICE Detention Center, as a result of possible negligent care and a respiratory illness she contracted from one of the other children. The events took place in Dilley Family Detention Center in south Texas.”

We’ve made multiple calls to Yegani trying to find out why she made the change but those calls have not been returned.

In a statement to KENS 5, the American Immigration Lawyers Association says a child did die after being released from custody. They went on to say they do not have permission to share any information about the child’s identity or the child’s family.

So after two days of digging, we’ve learned that a child did not die in ICE custody at the detention center in Dilley. Yegani and the American Immigration Lawyers Association both say a child died after being released from that detention center and ICE says it’s still investigating that claim.

There are still questions to be answered here and we’re going to continue investigating.

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