Lawmakers are responding to the death of an ICE detainee at the Miami Correctional Facility north of Kokomo.
Lorth Sim, a Cambodian national, was found unresponsive in his cell and pronounced dead shortly after 7 a.m. Monday morning, according to a detainee death notification posted Wednesday afternoon on the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's website.
U.S. Congressman André Carson (D-Indianapolis) said he had not been notified of the death as of Wednesday morning.
Carson called for answers to Sim's death in a statement on X.
"ICE has shown they have a disregard for human life," Carson said. "We need to know exactly what caused Lorth's death. I'm demanding DHS give us answers, now."
State Rep. Ed DeLaney (D-Indianapolis) said in a press release he reached out to the Indiana Department of Corrections to urge a thorough investigation.
DeLaney said he has visited the Miami Correctional Facility multiple times to ensure ICE detainees are receiving proper care and treatment. The Indiana prison started holding detainees last October as part of an agreement between the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the State of Indiana.
"Public trust in ICE is near zero," DeLaney said. "Since the state of Indiana has decided to allow ICE to use our facilities, it is incumbent on us to ensure that the conditions in that facility are up to standard."
IDOC declined to comment on the death that is under current investigation.
The 59-year-old Sim came to the U.S. as a refugee and became a lawful permanent resident in the 1980s. In 2006 an immigration judge ordered his removal from the country and back to Cambodia following several convictions.
Sim was put under arrest in Boston and detained last December.
This marks the seventh death this year of an ICE detainee nationally, and the first death of an ICE detainee at Miami Correctional Facility.
This story has been updated.
Contact WFYI All Things Considered newscaster and reporter Samantha Horton at shorton@wfyi.org or on Signal at SamHorton.05
