Immigration officers reported that an ICE detainee was found dead in Pennsylvania, having apparently hanged himself. The 32-year-old from China, Chaofeng Ge, was discovered unresponsive at the Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Phillipsburg on the morning of August 5, as per the U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement.
Authorities are looking into the circumstances surrounding his death. Ge had only been in ICE custody for five days, awaiting a hearing before the Department of Justice’s Enforcement Office regarding his immigration status. Staff members at the processing center found him hanging in the shower room around 5:21 a.m., as ICE stated.
They acted quickly, bringing him down, initiating CPR, and alerting local emergency services and the police. Earlier in the year, Ge was arrested on January 23 for multiple offenses, including the criminal use of communication facilities and illegal computer usage.
The following day, officers from the Philadelphia office initiated detention procedures against him. In alignment with ICE’s policies and procedures, officials notified the Departments of Homeland Security and Occupational Responsibility, as well as the Chinese Embassy, about Ge’s passing.
The Lower Paxton Township Police reported that Ge’s arrest stemmed from an incident involving the use of fraudulent credit cards at a local CVS store.
Upon investigation, police found that Ge had numerous stolen credit card numbers stored on his mobile device.
