Indian detained at Atlanta airport dies in custody

A 58-year-old Indian man, who was in the US customs' custody for entering the country illegally, has died last Tuesday, after being hospitalised for shortness of breath. 

The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ICE, said in a statement that Atul Kumar Babubhai Patel arrived at the Atlanta airport on May 10 on a flight from Ecuador. 

It said, the US Customs and Border Protection subsequently denied him entry into the country as he did not possess the necessary immigration documents. 

On Saturday, two days after being in the ICE custody, a nurse checking Patel's blood



sugar noticed he had a breathing problem following which he was shifted to a hospital where he passed away last Tuesday. The officials said, the preliminary cause of his demise was complications from congestive heart failure.

Patel is the second person to die in ICE custody this week. He is the eighth such individual who died in the custody of ICE this year.The recent deaths have drawn sharp criticism from immigrant rights activists, who have long decried conditions in immigration detention centres and called on the government to close such facilities.