PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A 46-year-old man in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody died at a local hospital Friday after suffering from severe drug withdrawal, according to federal officials. His family said they still have unanswered questions about his care and the agency’s communication.
ICE said in a statement that Parady La, a Cambodian immigrant, was arrested Tuesday, Jan 6., outside his home in Upper Darby and detained at the Federal Detention Center at 7th and Arch streets.
His nephew, Michael La, said he was only able to make one phone call to his wife before getting sick.
“From what we're hearing, that the inmates are saying, is that he said that he was withdrawing, told them that he was withdrawing, was asking for help for 24 hours, vomiting, and didn't get any water,” said La.
Officials said the next day ICE officers found La unresponsive, performed CPR, and gave him multiple doses of NARCAN. He was hospitalized in critical condition. The following day, officials said La went into complete renal failure and was being fully supported by a respirator until he died early Friday morning.
The Shut Down Detention Campaign, a coalition advocating for the closure of immigration detention centers across Pennsylvania and New Jersey, said it has heard from multiple sources that La explicitly told detention staff he was experiencing fentanyl withdrawal and repeatedly requested medical care the day he was brought to the facility. The group said officers failed to follow Pennsylvania Department of Health protocols for withdrawal treatment.
The group also noted ICE’s use of Narcan, typically administered for opioid overdoses, not withdrawal, and said earlier hospitalization could have improved La’s chances of survival.
Michael La also said ICE did not communicate directly with the family.
“Like what is the protocol for if somebody tells you that they're withdrawing, right?” he said. “The stories are coming together to sound like it could have been preventable.”
Both ICE and La’s family said he came to the United States in 1981 as a child refugee and became a lawful permanent resident a year later. He lost his status through a series of criminal charges over the next two decades.
Advocates said La was born in a refugee camp in Thailand, grew up in West Philadelphia and Upper Darby, and was a father figure to many of his nieces and nephews.
“He was loved by everybody that met him,” said Michael La. “One of the greatest things about him that I can't stop thinking about is he loved kids, you know, whenever anybody in the family had a kid, he would always be there for them.”
The Shut Down Detention Campaign said La’s death is the fourth reported death in a little over two years in Pennsylvania immigration detention centers, and renewed calls for the closure of the Federal Detention Center in Philadelphia.