An Open Letter to the American Red Cross and the International Red Cross

February 27, 2026

The death of an immigrant detainee at an El Paso, Texas facility has been ruled a homicide, according to the final autopsy report obtained by NBC News. Geraldo Lunas Campos, 55, originally from Cuba, died January 3rd at Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Camp East Montana facility at Fort Bliss, Texas.

“Based on the investigative and examination findings, it is my opinion that the cause of death is asphyxia due to neck and torso compression. The manner of death is homicide,” the El Paso County, Texas medical examiner concluded in a January 30th report.

When ICE first reported his death in a Jan. 9 press release, it stated that Lunas Campos had experienced “medical distress.” The agency said medical staff responded, initiated lifesaving measures, and requested emergency medical services. In an email to NBC News on Thursday, January 29th, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson stated that Lunas Campos had attempted to take his own life and that the security staff had “immediately intervened to save his life.”

There are reports of other deaths and abuses at other ICE detention and processing centers in Texas, including the South Texas ICE Processing Center in Pearsall and the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, and theFort Bliss Camp Montana tent city in El Paso.

Detainees report being given rotten food, inconsistent access to necessary medications, lack of prenatal care, lack of regular access to recreational areas, exposure to raw sewage, and physical and sexual abuse. There are also reports of inadequate laundry and cleaning services for detainees’ uniforms, which creates hygiene issues, and recent reports of outbreaks of scabies, measles, and other infections at multiple ICE facilities.

Inadequate medical care, a lack of access to proper sanitation, edible food, and clean water, particularly for vulnerable persons, including pregnant women, young children, the elderly, mentally ill, and those with underlying health issues, create dangerous conditions for people in these ICE facilities and are of great concern as human rights violations.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has a mandate under the Geneva Conventions (Article 126 of the Third Geneva Convention (1949) and Article 143 of the Fourth Geneva Convention (1949)) to visit prisoners of war, civilian internees, and other detainees to monitor conditions, ensure humane treatment, and facilitate contact with families. Suspicious deaths and apparent inhumane conditions make it clear that the Red Cross ought to promptly visit, examine, and report on the detention/prison ICE facilities in Texas.

Please initiate visits to ICE facilities in Texas to defend the human rights of powerless, vulnerable detainees imprisoned in inhumane conditions.

Arthur Caplan, PhD

Retiring professor of medical ethics, NYUGSOM, Ridgefield CT

(Institutional Affiliations Listed for Identification Only)

Signees:

1. Vardit Ravitsky, PhD, The Hastings Center for Bioethics
2. Keisha Ray, PhD
3. Dena S. Davis, JD, PhD 
4. Brendan Parent, JD
5. Jennifer Lewin, PhD
6. Lisa Kearns, MS, MA
7. Robert Baker, 
8. Vincent J. Palusci, MD, MS
9. Eileen Harrigan, MDre
10. Phoebe Friesen, PhD
11. Bryan Pilkington, PhD
12. Sunil Aggarwal, MD, PhD, University of Washington
13. Mary-Lou Weisman BA
14. Ghaiath Hussein, MD, PhD
15. Carolyn Riley Chapman, PhD MS
16. James Lytle, JD
17. Brian H. Childs, PhD, Mercer University School of Medicine
18. Susan Gilbert
19. Lisa DeTora, PhD, Hofstra University
20. Katie Grogan, DMH
21. Dale Jamieson, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, New York University
22. Andrew McFadyen, MHSc
23. Lena Milam
24. Melissa Moorehead
25. Kathleen Bachynski, PhD, Muhlenberg College
26. Mark Kuczewski, PhD
27. Richard N. Gottfried, JD, former NY State Assembly Member and Health Committee chair
28. Samantha Klitenic, JD
29. Jill Fisher, PhD
30. Catharine E. Krebs, PhD
31. Linda Granowetter MD, Clinical Professor of Pediatrics, NYU Grossman School of Medicine (retired)
32. Thalia Arawi, PhD, T2P Center for Health Ethics Training & Consultancy
33. Howard P. Forman MD, Yale School of Medicine
34. Liza-Marie Johnson MD, MPH, MSB, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
35. Lea Brandt, PhD, OTD, MA, University of Missouri Center for Health Ethics 
36. Andy Flescher, PhD, Stony Brook University
37. Monica Rose McLemore PhD, MPH, RN, FADLN, FNYAM, New York University
38. R. Alta Charo, JD, Professor Emerita of Law & Bioethics, University of Wisconsin
39. Eric M. Meslin, PhD, FRSC, FCAHS, ICD.D
40. Joel Michael Reynolds, PhD, Georgetown University and School of Medicine
41. J. Russell Teagarden, DMH
42. Quill R Kukla, PhD, Georgetown University
43. Cory Ellen Gatrall, PhD, RN, University of California, San Francisco
44. Paul Kelleher, PhD
45. Luis F. Angel MD   NYULangone Health
46. Daniel Suárez-Baquero PhD, MSN, RN, University of Washington
47. Carl Elliott MD PhD, University of Minnesota
48. Amy Haddad, MSN, PhD, MFA, FAAN, Creighton University
49. Paul Root Wolpe, Ph.D., Emory University
50. Debra DeBruin, PhD, University of Minnesota
51. Gustavo Ortiz-Millan, PhD
52. Nancy Berlinger, PhD, The Hastings Center for Bioethics
53. Omisade Burney-Scott, The Black Girl’s Guide to Surviving Menopause 
54. Grover C. Gilmore, PhD
55. Stuart  Kaufer, LMSW
56. Doug Opel MD, MPH, University of Washington School of Medicine
57. John Entwistle MD PhD, Thomas Jefferson University
58. Maria Merritt, PhD, Johns Hopkins University
59. Samuel Gorovitz, Ph.D, Dr.Sci.(Hon), Syracuse University
60. Jennifer Needle-Suarez, MD, MPH, University of Minnesota
61. Kenneth W Goodman, PhD, FACMI, FACE, University of Miami
62. Robert D. Truog, MD, MA Harvard Medical School 
63. Gwendolyn P. Quinn, Ph.D., FAACE, 
64. Anna Valdez, PhD, RN, Professor of Nursing, Sonoma State University
65. Brian S. Carter, MD, FAAP, University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine
66. Vanessa Northington Gamble, MD, PhD, The George Washington University
67. Keren Ladin, PhD, MSc Tufts University
68. Laurie Zoloth, Ph.D., University of Chicago
69. Nanette Elster, JD, MPH
70. David DeGrazia, PhD, George Washington University 
71. Robert Cook-Deegan, MD, Arizona State University
72. Rowan Kim, MS, Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science
73. Bruce Gelb, MD FACS, NYU Langone Health
74. James Tabery, PhD
75. Brandon Brown, MPH, MPH, University of California, Riverside
76. Peter Ochs, Ph.D., University of Virginia
77. Stuart Rennie, Ph.D.
78. Nancy M. P. King, JD
79. Susan Resneck Pierce, Ph.D.
80. Jonathan D. Moreno, Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania
81. Matthew K. Wynia, MD, MPH, University of Colorado
82. Sarah C. Hull, MD, MBE, Yale School of Medicine
83. Jeremy A. Greene, MD, PhD, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
84. Michelle N. Meyer, PhD, JD
85. Kathleen M. Boozang, JD, LLM, Seton Hall Law
86. Anita Ho, PhD, MPH, UCSF/UBC
87. Barron Lerner, MD, PhD, NYU Langone Health 
88. Eric T. Juengst, Ph.D, UNC-Chapel Hill
89. Nadia N. Sawicki, JD, MBe, Loyola University Chicago School of Law
90. Nathaniel Mamo, MA, NYU Grossman School of Medicine
91. Julian Wilson, The Black Girl’s Guide to Surviving Menopause
92. Max F. Kramer, Ph.D.
93. Jean Cadigan, PhD, UNC-Chapel Hill
94. Kate Saylor, Ph.D.
95. Timothy F. Murphy, Ph.D., University of Illinois College of Medicine
96. Ann M. Heesters, PhD, University of Toronto
97.  Claire Young, MPH
98. Daniel Wikler, Ph..D., Harvard School of Public Health, emeritus
99. Richard Klein, formerly FDA
100. Walter Glannon, PhD
101. Bonnie Steinbock, PhD
102. Eileen Sullivan-Marx, PhD, RN, FAAN, NYU
103. Karla FC Holloway, PhD. 
104. Holly K. Tabor, PhD, Stanford University School of Medicine
105. Alyssa Burgart, MD, MA, Stanford University School of Medicine
106. Michele Goodwin, J.D., LL.M., SJD, Georgetown Law
107. Deborah R. Barnbaum, PhD, Kent State University 
108. Harald Schmidt, PhD, University of Pennsylvania
109. Jason T. Eberl, PhD, Saint Louis University 
110. Steven Goodman, MD, PhD, Stanford University
111. Rosamond Rhodes, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai 
112. Jeffrey Blustein, Ph.D CUNY
113. Linda Tewksbury, MD
114. Leonard M. Fleck, Ph.D. Michigan State University
115. James Silk, MA, JD, Yale Law School
116. Kaija Freborg, DNP, RN, Sonoma State University
117. Elliot Dorff, Rabbi, Ph.D., American Jewish University
118. Joel T. Wu JD MPH MA, University of Minnesota
119. Chelsey R. Carter, MPH, PhD, Yale School of Public Health 
120. Carl H. Coleman, JD, Seton Hall Law School
121. Robert Swidler, MA, JD
122. Emily E. Anderson, PhD, MPH
123. Kara B. Ayers, PhD
124. Esther Berkowitz, MBChB, MA
125. Jeffrey Spike, PhD, The George Washington University School of Medicine
126. Sharon Gray, MA, RN, HEC-C
127. Paula Goodman-Crews, LCSW, MSW, HEC-C
128. Jessica F Berkowitz, MD 
129. Frances Batzer, MD, MBE
130. Katie Clark, DNP
131. Jelena Kalinić, MA, science communicator
132. Thomas E. Merchant, Juris Doctor, MS
133. Diana Harris, PhD, MBE
134. Jamie Webb, PhD
135. Eli Weber, PhD, Kaiser Permanente, SCAL–San Bernardino County Area
136. Diane M Korngiebel, DPhil
137. Thomas D. Harter, PhD
138. Lawrence Gostin, Distinguished University Professor, Georgetown Law
139. Joanne Lynn, MD
140. Carol Shoshkes Reiss, PhD, Professor Emerita, NYU
141. Audrey R. Chapman, PhD, UConn School of Medicine
142. Connie M. Ulrich, PhD, MSN, RN, FAAN
143. Miriam Merad, MD PhD, Icahn  school of medicine at Mount Sinai 
144. Angela Starkweather, PhD, ACNP-BC, RN
145. Linda Ohler, MSN, APRN, CCTC, FAAN, FAST Retired, NYU
146. Sara Taub, MD, MBE
147. Melissa Heidelberg, MSBE
148. Katherine Taylor, JD, PhD
149. Cody Feikles, PhD(c), MA, MTS, HEC-C, OSF Healthcare
150. Rafael Escandon, DrPH, HEC-C, DG Bioethics, Seattle, WA 
151. E. Goldblatt Hyatt, DSW, MBE
152. Susan L Herrmann, PhD, MA, MSW 
153. Cheryl Bettigole, MD, MPH, MA, University of Pennsylvania
154. Amal Dadi, MA
155. Joy Frestedt, PhD, CPI, RAC, FRAPS, FACRP; Frestedt Incorporated, MN 
156. Victoria Velasquez-Feikles, PhD(c), MSc
157. Mayli Mertens, PhD, Atlas Bioethics Center
158. Rachel Groth, PhD
159. Drew Lewis, MD
160. Allison Squires, PhD, RN, New York, NY