Brother of man who died at Pa. ICE detention center sues U.S. government

A lawsuit has been filed against the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security by the brother of Chaofeng Ge, a 32-year-old Chinese immigrant who died at a Central Pennsylvania detention facility.

At the Moshannon Valley Processing Center on Aug. 5, Ge was found dead in a shower stall with a cloth wrapped around his neck and with his legs and hands tied behind his back, according to the lawsuit.

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Yangeng Ge, the detainee's brother, filed the lawsuit on Wednesday in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, claiming federal officials unlawfully ignored his Freedom of Information Act request seeking answers about his brother's death.

ICE's Detainee Death Report for the inmate lists that he was brought to MVPC on July 31 after being convicted of accessing an electronic device issued to another who did not authorize use. It also lists the emergency procedures that officials took after finding Ge unresponsive.

David Rankin, a lawyer with New York-based law firm Beldock Levine & Hoffman, who is representing Ge's family on the case, refuted this information in an emailed statement. He said he understood Ge was held at the facility for "a number of months."

"We do not understand the information about how long he was at MVPC to be correct — which makes the whole report highly suspect," Rankin said via email. "A chronology of what happened after they discovered him does not shed light on why it happened. … Hopefully standing up and demanding transparency will encourage others to do the same. The more we can shed light on what happens at MVPC the better."

ICE said it "cannot comment on pending litigation."

The lawsuit claims Ge felt isolated in MVPC because no one in the facility spoke Mandarin and the staff made no effort to communicate with him. Rankin said this allegation was corroborated by interviews with people who left the facility and medical records.

Yangeng Ge filed a FOIA request through his attorneys on Sept. 9 seeking information about his brother's detention including details about the conditions of the facility, his treatment by personnel and the circumstances of his death, the lawsuit said.

On Sept. 15, Yangeng Ge said he received confirmation from the U.S. Postal Service that ICE received the request, but he said it went "unlawfully ignored" because the agency was required to inform him whether hey would comply within 20 days of receipt.

"The government is so committed to keeping the public in the dark about what is happening at these detention centers that it is willing to violate the law," Jeremy Ravinsky, associate attorney at Beldock Levine & Hoffman, said in a statement. "This lawsuit calls for much needed transparency into how the government is treating detainees."

Yangeng Ge is seeking injunctive relief and for the agencies to release all records pertaining to his brother's detention and death.

"I am devastated by the loss of my brother and by the knowledge that he was suffering so greatly in that detention center," he said in a statement. "He did not deserve to be treated that way. I want justice for my brother, answers as to how this could have happened and accountability for those responsible for his death."