Federal immigration officials confirmed the identity of a migrant who died in custody inside a Nassau County jail last week and revealed a preliminary cause of death as official probes continue.
Honduras citizen Santos Banegas Reyes, 42, — who had been previously deported three times– appeared to have died from “liver failure complicated by alcoholism,” Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Tuesday.
The official cause of death is still under investigation.
The Honduran father and construction worker was arrested Sept. 18 by federal immigration agents just hours before he was found “not breathing” in his cell, according to ICE and Oscar Michelen, the attorney representing Reyes’ family with the Long Island Hispanic Bar Association.
Reyes had previously entered the US illegally at least four times from 2004 to 2019, and ICE claimed the detainee previously admitted to a history of alcohol abuse.
But the detainee’s family pushed back on ICE’s findings of the cause of death and claimed relatives were only notified that he died by a “source” and not by federal authorities.
Michelen also claimed that Reyes had no-known health issues leading up to his death, and said his family denies that he was a heavy drinker or an alcoholic — which Reyes’ sister called “absurd.”
“It’s a remarkable coincidence, isn’t it,” Michelen told The Post. “The very same day that he gets snatched away by ICE, a seemingly healthy man just so happens to succumb to chronic liver failure.”
Reyes’ sister, who asked not to be named for fear of reprisals, said that her brother appeared “normal and healthy” the day before his arrest at his construction job.
The family is now pursuing an independent autopsy, according to Michelen.
County Sheriff Anthony Larocco said its own ongoing investigation “will be thorough and transparent to determine the cause of death.”
“Nassau County takes seriously its obligation to treat every prisoner humanely,” Larocco said in a statement.
The state attorney general’s office is also investigating as is protocol with any in-custody death.
The feds also stressed that all detainees in custody “receive medical, dental and mental health screenings and 24-hour emergency care at each detention facility.”
The death comes after Nassau entered a partnership with ICE that set aside 50 cells at the East Meadow jail to hold detainees nabbed by ICE in New York City and Long Island.
Under the deal, migrants can be held in the jail for up to 72 hours before ICE either deports them or ships them off to a long-term detention facility, with the feds reimbursing the county $195 per detainee, per night.
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