4 April 9-15, 2026 miaminewtimes.com | browardpalmbeach.com NEW TIMES | MUSIC | CAFE | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | NEWS | LETTERS | CONTENTS | MONTH XX–MONTH XX, 2008 miaminewtimes.com MIAMI NEW TIMES | MUSIC | CAFE | FILM | ART | STAGE | NIGHT+DAY | METRO | RIPTIDE | LETTERS | CONTENTS | ▼ SOUTHWEST FLORIDA LEFT BEHIND THE FAMILY OF A TEEN WHO DIED IN FLORIDA ICE CUSTODY SPEAKS OUT. BY ALEX DELUCA W hen Manuel Perez Ruiz received a phone call on the morning of March 16, he assumed it was his son. Just three days earlier, 19-year-old Royer Perez-Jimenez had called from the Glades County Detention Center, a jail on the western shore of Lake Okeechobee that houses immi- grant detainees and has long faced allegations of abuse. He was in U.S. Customs and Immigra- tion Enforcement (ICE) custody, thousands of miles from his father in Chiapas, Mexico. But this time, the voice on the other end wasn’t his son’s. It was a police officer. “I thought they were calling to ask for some documents or requirements,” Perez Ruiz said in a video posted online. “I said, ‘What happened? What is it? Tell me what happened.’” Early on March 16, the teenager was found dead at the detention center, according to ICE. The agency says he “died of a presumed sui- cide,” although his official cause of death re- mains under investigation. He appears to be the youngest person to die in ICE custody since President Donald Trump took office again in January 2025, according to ICE records. While questions remain about the circum- stances of Perez’s death, his grieving family has begun speaking out. In a video filmed in Chiapas — Mexico’s southernmost state, home to one of the coun- try’s largest Indigenous populations — Perez’s father expresses disbelief at the official ac- count of his son’s death and pleads for help bringing his body home. The nearly three-minute video, shared on Facebook by the account Chiapas 360, shows Perez Ruiz speaking in Tzotzil, an Indigenous language spoken in parts of southern Mexico, as a woman stands beside him, visibly dis- tressed and wiping away tears. “His life ended inside prison,” Perez Ruiz says in the video, which was translated for New Times by Comunidades Indígenas en Liderazgo (CIELO), an Indigenous women- led nonprofit based in California. “I don’t know what happened.” The person who called to report his son’s death told him he had died by suicide, Perez Ruiz says in the video. “It’s something we can’t believe, that he would commit suicide while under the authorities,” says his father, whom New Times was unable to reach for comment. “My son could not have taken his own life like that because he’s not mentally unwell. There’s nothing wrong with him. He was fine.” In a statement released following Perez’s death, ICE said that Perez was evaluated by medical staff at intake and didn’t report any behavioral health issues, including answering “no” to all suicide screening questions. A spokesperson for ICE did not respond to New Times’ email request for comment re- garding Perez’s father appearing to question officials’ account of his son’s death. Perez’s father ends the video by saying the family is struggling to bring his body back to their hometown. “The hardest part now is bringing my son’s body here,” he says. “It’s not cheap, but I want him to arrive here in our town. I’m from Ran- cho Nuevo. If you can support me now, please help with whatever little you can, and let it come from your hearts as financial support.” While his loved ones initially created a Go- FundMe to raise money to bring Perez’s body to Mexico, the fundraiser appears to have been taken down. It’s unclear whether the family is receiving help from Mexican au- thorities. A spokesperson for the Mexican consulate in Miami has not responded to New Times’ emails asking whether Perez’s body has been or will be repatriated to Mexico. According to ICE’s statement, at around 2:30 a.m. on March 16, a Glades County detention officer found Perez “uncon- scious and unrespon- sive.” Staff began CPR, and medical person- nel arrived minutes later, determined he was without a pulse, and took over resuscitation efforts before requesting emergency medical services.At around 2:40 a.m., fire rescue offi- cials arrived and “initiated-life sustaining in- terventions,” according to the agency. He was pronounced dead at 2:51 a.m.When Perez first entered the United States in February 2022at age 15, he encountered U.S. Border Patrol and was “granted a voluntary return” to Mexico the same day, according to ICE. He later “illegally reentered” the U.S., although it’s unclear when, exactly. On January 22, Perez was arrested by the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office and charged with impersonation and resisting an officer, both misdemeanors, according to an arrest report obtained by New Times (although ICE’s statement characterized the imperson- ation charge as a felony). Police say they tried to pull Perez over while he was riding a scooter because he was cross- ing traffic lanes without using a crosswalk. But he allegedly refused to stop and gave officers multiple false names. According to the report, Perez eventually told police he had “overstayed his visa and is currently in the United States il- legally,” and said he had no documentation to prove his name or date of birth. Body-camera footage obtained by New Times shows the encounter quickly escalat- ing, with officers shoving Perez to the ground. In the footage, two officers are seen tack- ling Perez to the ground and struggling to communicate with him. Perez eventually tells them through a Spanish-language translator that he speaks the Mayan language of Tzotzil. The same day Perez was arrested, ICE placed an immigration detainer on him, the agency says, and he was transferred into ICE custody on February 21 before being moved to Glades County Detention Center on February 26. Perez’s father told Noticias Telemundo that his son is from San Juan Chamula, a town in the highlands of Chiapas inhabited by the indigenous Tzotzil Maya people. The oldest of five siblings, he left home for the U.S. at age 15, hoping to work and make money. He worked at a Mexican restaurant near Day- tona Beach in Florida. Perez’s death drew international attention and scrutiny, including from Mexico’s presi- dent Claudia Sheinbaum, who called for a “full investigation” into the circumstances. “This can’t be happening,” Sheinbaum told reporters, referring to the death of Perez and two other Mexican immigrants who died in ICE detention earlier this year. “The report says the young man killed himself,” she continued. “Nonetheless, we want a full investigation.” By ICE’s own count, at least 37 people have died in ICE custody since January 2025. On March 25, just days after Perez’s death, another Mexican national died in ICE deten- tion; Jose Guadalupe Ramos-Solano, who lived in Los Angeles, died after detention cen- ter staff discovered him “unconscious and unresponsive,” according to ICE. [email protected] | RIPTIDE | GET MORE NEWS & COMMENTARY AT MIAMINEWTIMES.COM/NEWS While questions remain about the circumstances of his Royer Perez-Jimenez’s death, his family has begun speaking out. Screenshot via Noticias Telemundo/YouTube ▼ DOWNTOWN MIAMI PROMISED LAND MIAMI HISTORIAN MARVIN DUNN PLANS TO SUE OVER THE TRUMP PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY — AGAIN. BY ALEX DELUCA O n Monday, March 30, along with much of the world, local historian and activist Marvin Dunn pressed play on a nearly two-minute AI-generated video depicting what Donald Trump’s future presidential library could look like in downtown Miami. Dunn’s reaction came in a single word: “horror.” “I don’t believe that most of the people in Mi- ami, in this community, want to see that building dominating Biscayne Boulevard,” the 85-year- old tells New Times. The video tour of the project imagines a new, towering skyscraper in downtown Miami as Trump’s future presidential library. It shows a massive high-rise packed with the kind of gilded excess that has come to define the president’s brand: a golden escalator, what appears to be a Boeing 747 modeled after Air Force One parked near the entrance, and an auditorium featuring a massive gold statue of Trump with his fist raised to the sky. Dunn tells New Times he plans to sue again to stop the project. Dunn, who previously sued Miami Dade Col- lege to stop it from transferring the 2.6-acre property to the state to be deeded to Trump’s foundation, says he’s preparing a new lawsuit challenging Miami Dade College and its Board of Trustees, with students potentially signed on as plaintiffs. He says he began planning the new lawsuit when the previous one was dismissed in December. “The video was helpful,” Dunn says, “but we were going ahead anyway.” Dunn argues that Trump violated the Consti- tution by accepting a gift that carries a commer- cial benefit while in office. He says the Board of Trustees also failed in its fiduciary responsibility to protect the college’s assets. He hopes to file a suit by next week. “THE HARDEST PART NOW IS BRINGING MY SON’S BODY HERE.” >> p5
