Veronica Ramirez knew something was wrong the day her husband didn’t call.
In the three months he had been detained at an immigration detention center in Louisiana, Julian Curo Churata had called or messaged every morning to reassure Ramirez and their three children in Maryland that he was okay. As Sept. 28 passed with no word, Ramirez called the wife of another detainee, who told her that Curo Churata had been “doing poorly all day.”
When he didn’t call the following morning, Ramirez contacted the detention center. A staffer told her they would get back to her shortly.
Twenty minutes later, a funeral home called to tell Ramirez that her husband was dead.
Ramirez said an ICE official told her that Curo Churata had died that morning and the cause of death was still being determined. ICE officials said in a statement guards at Richwood Correctional Center in Monroe, Louisiana, found Curo Churata in “medical distress” the day before and took him to Ochsner LSU Health Monroe Medical Center just after 8 p.m. Sept. 28.
The hospital, a seven-minute drive from the detention center, did not record him arriving until 10:26 p.m., according to hospital records shared with The Washington Post.
It remains unclear exactly what happened in the hours before Curo Churata’s arrival at the hospital.
Hospital records list his immediate cause of death as “cardiac arrest” because of “septic shock.”
“No one from the detention center ever called to tell me he was sick or that they were transferring him to a health center or hospital — nothing,” Ramirez said in Spanish in an interview with The Post.
More than two weeks after the death, agency officials have yet to provide a detailed account of what happened to the family, Ramirez said. She knew her husband as a healthy 47-year-old with no history of health issues, and she said she wants answers.
“He wasn’t a criminal,” Ramirez said. “All he wanted to do in this country was work. He paid his taxes, he wanted a better future for his children and for me — for his family. He didn’t deserve this at all. I want justice. I want the truth told, and I want them to take responsibility if they had anything to do with this. They need to tell the truth and let the real story come to light.”
Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Maryland) has called for a “full independent investigation” into Curo Churata’s death.
“There is mounting information that Richwood ignored Mr. Curo Churata’s urgent medical needs, showing a complete disregard for his life,” Max Schoening, a civil rights attorney with Qureshi Law representing Ramirez, said in a statement.
Richwood Correctional Center did not respond to a request for comment.
DHS did not answer a list of questions from The Post. In an Oct. 1 statement announcing Curo Churata’s death, the agency said that it provided Curo Churata with “proper medical care” while he was detained. “At no time during detention is a detained noncitizen denied emergency care,” the statement says.
Curo Churata is one of at least 59 people to die in ICE custody since President Donald Trump returned to office, a time period in which detention facilities have faced widespread allegations of poor conditions, lack of medical care and abuses by guards.
In Texas, a man born in Mexico died Saturday after he was found unresponsive in his bed in his cell at about 10 a.m. at the Rio Grande Processing Center in Laredo, Texas, U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar confirmed. The Mexican consulate raised concerns with Cuellar about the man’s death, including the reason for his detention. Cuellar said he submitted questions to ICE but has not yet received answers. He said he is in touch with Emiliano Andrade-Covarrubias’ family.
Richwood Correctional Center has faced allegations of substandard medical care, including an April 2025 incident in which a detained woman delivered a stillborn child after allegedly receiving inadequate prenatal care, according to reporting by The Intercept.
DHS said immigration officers arrested Curo Churata in June for being in the country illegally. According to Ramirez’s lawyer, he unsuccessfully applied for asylum in 2021. He held a work authorization permit that expired in 2024, according to a copy reviewed by The Post. Court records show a 2019 traffic violation for driving with expired registration and a 2024 state tax lien in Maryland.
Ramirez described him as a quiet and kindhearted family man who loved soccer and worked hard to support her and their children.
Those who knew Curo Churata have struggled to make sense of his sudden death. A carpenter, he was known to the people he worked with as an active, healthy man who worked outside in heat, cold and rain, rarely calling in sick. Ramirez said she wasn’t aware of any health problems that might have contributed to his death. “He didn’t have any vices, he didn’t smoke or drink,” she said.
“He’s the kind of guy that’s super dependable, showed up to work, didn’t want any trouble,” said Cassaundra Brownell, a manager at Wentworth, a construction firm where Curo Churata worked. “He was one of the guys on our team that just everybody loved … He talked about his family all the time.”
The last time she spoke with her husband, on Sept. 27, Ramirez said she didn’t notice anything unusual.
The next day, Curo Churata’s condition grew dire. According to hospital records, correctional officers at Richwood reported that he was “lethargic and unresponsive throughout the day” on Sept. 28.
By the time he arrived at the hospital that night, his condition had deteriorated. When staff attempted to communicate with him through a Spanish interpreter, “he remained withdrawn and only produced incomprehensible sounds,” according to hospital records.
Hospital staff who examined Curo Churata recorded in notes that a 47-year-old incarcerated male with no reported past medical history was brought for treatment “due to concern for altered mental status.” The records also state that Curo Churata had been sent from the prison to rule out pneumonia.
At 4:01 a.m. Sept. 29 Curo Churata died.
In a letter, the agency informed Ramirez, “Your husband died on Sept. 29, 2026. His cause of death is still being determined.” Ramirez said she hasn’t heard anything from the agency since.
“That’s what tears me apart the most, because every night I just keep wondering: What happened?” Ramirez said. “I just can’t make sense of it.”
DHS said an autopsy will determine the official cause of death. The coroner’s office for Ouachita Parish, where the detention center is located, confirmed Monday that it had not completed Curo Churata’s autopsy report.
Ramirez said the weight of his loss, as a father and financial support of the family, has been too much to bear at times. Her daughter, once a happy, outgoing child, has become withdrawn and afraid of losing her as well.
“She won’t let me out of her sight,” Ramirez said. “She doesn’t want to go to school. She’s afraid — afraid of being alone.”
A GoFundMe to support Ramirez and pay for funeral expenses has so far raised nearly $22,000. A separate fundraiser started by Curo Churata’s eldest son to help pay for his college education has received more than $10,000 in donations.
“I am still trying to adjust to life without him,” Luis Curo wrote on the fundraiser’s webpage. “My father was an important part of my life, and I hope to make him proud by completing my degree and pursuing my dreams.”
Before his arrest, the couple had felt a fragile sense of ease in spite of the surging ICE detention operations in the summer. Curo Churata had a pending case with the immigration court and at a June 22 hearing, he was told to return for a follow up court date in August. Ramirez recalled: “We told ourselves that if they had wanted to detain him, they would have done it right then and there.”
Less than a week later, on June 27, ICE officers arrested Curo Churata in Laurel as he stopped by Home Depot on his way to work.
During his months in detention, the daily calls with his family — sometimes up to three times per day — became something of a ritual, Ramirez said. He would reassure her that he was staying safe and tell his kids that he missed them, that they would be together again soon. The couple had agreed not to tell their 6-year-old daughter about his detention, so Curo Churata would tell her on video calls that he was helping build a beautiful house far away and he would return when the job was done.
“She would say, ‘Dad, why don’t you finish that job? That job is awful, they won’t let you come back to us,’” Ramirez recalled. “He would tell her, ‘No, my love, I’m almost finished, and then I’ll be able to come home and be with you.’”
Shortly before his death, an immigration judge denied Curo Churata’s asylum application and his request for voluntary departure to Peru. Ramirez said that as the prospect of him remaining in the country dimmed, they began planning to reunite outside the U.S. — in Peru or perhaps El Salvador, her home country.
“We decided that if he had to leave, I would go with the kids — we didn’t want to be apart,” she said. “But in the end, they took him away from me forever.”
Arelis R. Hernández contributed to this report.
The post A Maryland woman’s husband died in ICE custody. She wants answers. appeared first on Washington Post.
