Chinese American family files lawsuit for info on relative who died in ICE custody

GE FAMILY

ICE claims that Chaofeng Ge, above, committed suicide during his detention.

The family of Chaofeng Ge, a Chinese man who died while in the custody of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), is suing the U.S. government and ICE for a lack of transparency regarding the circumstances of his death.

Chaofeng Ge, a 32-year-old Chinese citizen from Queens, NY, was found dead on August 5, 2025. Authorities say Ge died by suicide by hanging. However, an independent autopsy found that his hands were tied behind him, raising questions  over the claim of suicide.

"I am (devastated) by the loss of my brother and by the knowledge that he was suffering so greatly in that detention center," Ge's brother ,Yanfeng Ge, said in a statement Nov. 12, adding that he wants answers and accountability.

Ge died at the Moshannon Valley Processing Center, a private facility in Pennsylvania operated by the GEO Group. He had been in ICE custody for just five days following a conviction related to credit card fraud.

The lawsuit is the family contends that its  requests for information via the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) were ignored by the detention facility operators and ICE. GEO Group runs the facility as a detention center for ICE. Yanfeng Ge said in the suit that GEO did not reach out to the family to explain what happened.

ICE and the Clearfield County coroner reported the death as a suicide by hanging. However, the family's attorney states that an independent autopsy revealed Ge was found not only hanging, but also with his hands and legs tied behind his back, a detail not included in initial ICE reports. This discrepancy is a central point of concern for the family.

The lawsuit alleges that Ge experienced "significant distress" and was isolated because no staff at the facility spoke Mandarin and refused to attempt communication with him, preventing him from expressing his needs or receiving necessary mental health treatment.

“Mr Ge was isolated because no one in the facility could speak Chinese. MVPC staff refused even to try to communicate with him, much less offer him the mental healthcare that he so urgently needed,” the complaint alleged.

The lawsuit highlights concerns over US immigration detention, noting that record-high numbers of people, including a sharp rise in Asian immigrants, are allegedly being held in overcrowded facilities with limited access to medical and mental healthcare.

The lawsuit comes amidst ongoing criticism of the Moshannon Valley Processing Center, with immigration advocates and former detainees reporting "inhumane" and "punitive" conditions, including inadequate medical care and abuse.

An ICE spokesman stated the agency does not comment on pending litigation. The agency had previously released a statement that all in-custody deaths are tragic and thoroughly investigated, and that it is committed to safe and humane environments.

A report by the UCLA Asian-American Studies Centre published in July found that total Asian immigrant arrests nearly tripled from under 700 in 2024 to almost 2,000 between February and May 2025. A majority of those detained came from China, India, and Vietnam.

The report also found that 21 deaths have occurred in ICE custody. Of the people who died, five were of Asian descent.

David B. Rankin, attorney for the Ge family. stated that the government is willing to violate the law to keep information about these centers from the public, and that the lawsuit aims to bring much-needed transparency.

"People are dying and our government doesn't have the common decency to offer the family any explanation, it's appalling," said Rankin.

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Man hangs himself while in an immigration detention facility

The Moshannon Valley Processing Center

While in ICE custody at the Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Pennsylvania, Chaofeng Ge, a 32-year-old citizen of China, was found hanging by the neck in the shower.

Ge was pronounced deceased by the Clearfield County coroner at approximately 6:03 a.m. on Aug. 5.

He had been in ICE custody for five days and was awaiting a hearing before the Department of Justice’s Executive Office for Immigration Review. MVPC staff discovered Ge hanging by the neck and unresponsive in the shower room of his detention pod at 5:21 a.m. They reportedly immediately "cut down" Ge to the ground, began CPR and contacted Phillipsburg Emergency Medical Services, the Pennsylvania State Police and the coroner’s office.

Chaofeng Ge

According to a police report from Lower Paxton Township, Ge was arrested Jan. 23 after allegedly using a stolen credit card to buy gift cards. The next day, Philadelphia’s Enforcement and Removal Operations York sub-office lodged an immigration detainer with the Dauphin County Prison.

Ge pleaded guilty to the original charges on July 31. He was sentenced to six to 12 months for each count and granted immediate release to the ICE detainer.

Privately-run detention centers

Moshannon Valley Processing Center, is a privately run immigration jail operated by the GEO Group in a rural area about 300 miles west of New York City. Since  Donald Trump began his second term, the detention center has become a major warehouse for immigrants apprehended by ICE in and around New York and Philadelphia.

Before Ge's death, the detention center was already the subject of scores of complaints about abusive conditions. Among other complaints, detainees and civil rights advocates noted a serious lack of language services and an oppressive environment that seemed more like a prison for convicted criminals than a temporary holding center for immigrants.

FYI: ICE makes official notifications to Congress, nongovernmental organization stakeholders, and the media upon an official report of a detained illegal alien’s death and posts a news release with relevant details on the ICE public website within two business days per agency policy. This information may be accessed in the ICE.gov Newsroom. Additionally, congressional requirements described in the DHS Appropriations Bill of 2018 require ICE to make public all reports regarding an in-custody death within 90 days.These reports may be accessed on the Detainee Death Reporting page.

Apparently, the suicide of Chaofeng Ge, is not an isolated incident it’s a sign of deeperand larger issues mainstream media has not focused on.

From last October 2024 to late June of this year, 12 people nationwide have died in ICE facilities — more than the total deaths in all of the last fiscal year, with three months remaining in this cycle, according to The Intercept. It was the highest number of ICE detainee deaths since the Covid pandemic in 2020.

Among the 12 deaths were at least two suicides. Ge’s death at the Moshannon Valley Processing Center was the third.

ICE is good for business

Detainee populations nationwide have risen at least 25% since Trump was inaugurated and are major beneficiaries of the Trump immigration crackdown. The Moshannon jail is now the largest immigration detention center in the Northeast. Critics say the speed of its growth risks creating dangerous conditions for detainees, including crowding and lack of sufficient medical and mental health resources.

The cost of housing a detainee in the private detention centers on average  runs about $160 per day per detainee.The cost of privately run ICE detention centers involves billions of taxpayer dollars, with concerns centering around contractual arrangements that include bed quotas and a lack of transparency and oversight, potentially leading to wasteful spending and concerns about the quality of care provided to detainees, reports The Intercept.

Private prison companies, particularly the GEO Group, are major beneficiaries of the Trump administrations' immigration policies and, not surprisngly, have significantly contributed to Donald Trump's political campaigns and related entities.

Here's a summary breakdown of their contributions to Trump and Republicans:

• Altogether, private prison companies - that includes the GEO Group - their PACs, subsidiaries, and CEOs donated nearly $2.8 million to Trump's 2024 election efforts and inaugural fund.

• GEO Group and its affiliated PACs donated heavily to Trump PACs and Republican congressional campaigns, including $1 million to Trump's Make America Great Again PAC and over $1.2 million to the Congressional Leadership Fund and Senate Leadership Fund.

• GEO also contributed $500,000 to Trump's inauguration.

• GEO Group's PAC became the first to max out donations to Trump's campaign in February 2024.

The modest investment by the private prison companies net billions of federal dollars annually under contracts with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

In 2022 alone, The GEO Group made $1.05 billion, and CoreCivic made $552.2 million from these contracts, according to The New York Times. 

RELATED: FilAm charges medical abuse at Georgia detention facility

These companies are actively expanding their capacity to meet the growing demand for detention beds, with some expecting to more than double their revenue through increased capacity by building new facilities such as the so-called Alligator Alcatraz in Florida's Everglades,  those being built on military bases such as Texas' Fort Bliss and reopening idle facilities such as Alcatraz in San Francisco Bay,  further boosting the profitability of these companies.

One company CEO estimated that reopening idle facilities could generate an additional $500-600 million in revenue, according to the Idaho Capital Sun.

The shadowy world of profit-making private prisons needs to be more transparent because it is taxpayers' money being used that benefits no one except the corporate executives and investors in a business model that prefers to remain outside of public scrutiny.

While Chaofeng Ge's death, which is still being investigate as a suicide, is tragic, it helps to shed light on a profitable business model that most Americans do not know exist.

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