Aftermath of an Immigrant's Death in Detention

Michael Chertoff, secretary of Homeland Security, at a conference last week. He has been lukewarm about a proposal to set mandatory standards for health care in immigration detention. (Photo: Phil McCarten/Associated Press)

Hiu Lui Ng, a 34-year-old computer engineer, was swept into the immigration detention system in July 2007. His wife, Linn, a naturalized United States citizen who had petitioned for him to receive a green card, was left to care for their two American-born sons alone.

Relatives struggled to pay legal costs of his fight against deportation and to meet the mortgage on the house he had just bought in Queens.

Then Mr. Ng, who had come to the United States at age 17 with his parents and overstayed a visa years earlier, died on Aug. 6 in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, of complications of cancer and a fractured spine, both of which had not been detected until five days before his death, despite his complaints of extreme back pain and a progressive inability to walk.

A number of elected officials have already weighed in on Mr. Ng’s death, including Representatives José E. Serrano of the Bronx, John Conyers Jr. of Michigan and Zoe Lofgren of California, and Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey. All are Democrats.

Representative Lofgren and Senator Menendez are sponsors of pending legislation that would set mandatory standards for health care in immigration detention.

Michael Chertoff, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, remains lukewarm about such legislation, however. In an interview late last week, he told Randal C. Archibold of The Times that the immigration enforcement agency is tightening up care and working on an improved system. He said Congress had to be realistic, adding: “We want to provide good care, but we’re not trying to create a health care system for people. The idea actually is to move people out very quickly and deport them back home.”

And asked his reaction to recent detainee deaths, including Mr. Ng’s, Mr. Chertoff said:

You know I hate to see any detainee die in prison. And I always believe if there is negligence or misconduct that ought to be punished. I also recognize that the population of any detention facility, whether it’s a state prison, federal prison, you’re going to get a certain number of deaths.

In response to many inquiries by strangers who wanted to help after reading the article about Mr. Ng in The Times last week, relatives have established a temporary fund for donations for his widow and children. Brian Zhao, Mr. Ng’s brother-in-law, said donors could make checks payable to the Ng Family Fund, Account No. 825-31181, and mail them to:

Hiu Lui Ng Family Fund
c/o Litao Mai
Merrill Lynch
100 Campus Drive, Third Floor
Florham Park, N.J. 07932

For other inquiries, including information about wiring money, Mr. Zhao said the family could be reached by e-mail.

The Times Topics page on deaths of immigrants in custody includes links to several additional sources of information, including legal advocacy groups, a Congressional committee that has held hearings on detainee deaths and complaints of inadequate health care, and the Detention Watch network, which maps the growing patchwork of local, state, federal and private jails where people are held while the government decides whether to deport them.