A 54-year-old woman from the United Kingdom died Monday in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement at Haskell Hospital in West Texas, according to an agency press release issued Wednesday evening.
Olubunmi Toyin Joshua was found unresponsive in her dorm at the Rolling Plains Detention Center in Haskell, Texas, on Oct. 24. Joshua died later that night at the hospital after doctors were unable to revive her. The cause of death remains unknown, pending an autopsy.
Joshua has had a legal record of various offenses since she first entered the U.S. in July 1984 under a student visa. That year, she was convicted in U.S. District Court, Western District of Oklahoma, for passing counterfeit notes. She was sentenced to one year probation.
In 1997, Joshua was granted voluntary departure until Nov. 17 of that year. She failed to leave the country in time and was ordered to be removed. More than a year passed until Joshua left the country. She flew to Canada and later illegally re-entered the U.S.
In 2013, Joshua was convicted in Tarrant County, Texas, for failure to identify and giving false/fictitious information. In 2015, she again was charged with “failure to identify fugitive,” giving false/fictitious information, and driving without a valid driver’s license. Joshua was placed in jail and ICE placed a detainer on her following her being released from jail. She had been in ICE custody since January 2016.
ICE has contacted the Consulate of the United Kingdom in Houston, Texas, about Joshua’s death.
Joshua is the first detainee to pass away in ICE custody in fiscal year 2017, which commenced Oct. 1. Last year, 10 illegal aliens died in ICE custody, passing the record for the most deaths in a year. Seven ICE detainees died in FY 2015, three in 2014 and seven in 2013.
