Luis Sandoval Dies in ICE Custody at the GEO-Run Folkston Center in Georgia Weeks After His Arrest; Death Comes Amid a Hunger Strike and a Senators' Letter

Luis Sandoval, a Salvadoran national, died in ICE custody at the Folkston D. Ray ICE Processing Center in Georgia on Friday, October 23, 2026. ICE’s detainee death notification, posted the next day, says staff found him unresponsive in the early morning and that he was pronounced dead at approximately 2:28 a.m. ICE says the death is under investigation and that an autopsy will determine the official cause and manner of death.

ICE says it arrested him through ICE Newark on October 2, 2026, issued a notice to appear, and that he arrived at Folkston on Oct. 8, 2026 pending his first removal hearing.

The death came the day after Georgia Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock sent a letter to the DHS Secretary and the DHS inspector general asking for an immediate investigation of conditions at the facility, where hundreds of detainees began a hunger strike in early October (see the Folkston hunger-strike entry). Common Dreams reports it is not known whether Sandoval was among the hunger strikers. Folkston is operated by GEO Group under an ICE contract. It is not the facility’s first custody death: Common Dreams notes an ICE review found medical care contributed to the April 2024 death of Jaspal Singh there.

The count. The 60th is Common Dreams’ figure. The newest FY 2026 entry on ICE’s Detainee Death Reporting page is dated August 23, 2026, so the ordinal is not checked against ICE’s list here.

Not established: the cause and manner of death, whether Sandoval took part in the hunger strike, and what medical or mental-health screening he received between his arrival and his death.