ICE detainee who died in Nassau jail ID'd as Santos Banegas Reyes, sister says

A 42-year-old immigrant who died in a Nassau County jail last week after his arrest by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents was in good health and had no criminal record, his sister said Monday.

The family of Santos Banegas Reyes called for justice in the case and a full accounting of the death of a man his sister described as a robust construction worker who was heading to work last Wednesday when ICE detained him. He died the next morning at the Nassau County Correctional Center in East Meadow after 18 hours in custody.

Officials have not released details on the death.

"He didn’t have any diseases. He was well," his sister said in Spanish on Monday as she sat in the living room of the house in Nassau County that the siblings shared with other relatives. "We want to know the truth of what happened, why did he die in their hands? We want this answer, what was the cause of his death?"

The family has received no phone calls or information from Nassau County, ICE or hospital officials since his death, the sister said. She went to the Nassau County morgue on Saturday with a community advocate to identify her brother's body, she said.

"We are very devastated by his death," she said in Spanish. "We are confused."

Banegas Reyes, a native of Honduras, is survived by two daughters, a 10-year-old who was on Long Island with him and a 19-year-old in his homeland.

The younger one "can’t accept what happened, and she wants an answer, too," Banegas Reyes' sister said. "We want the truth." She did not want her name used for fear of possible repercussions.

New York Attorney General Letitia James and the state Commission of Correction are reviewing the death, as required by law.

Rep. Laura Gillen (D-Rockville Centre), whose district includes the jail, said last week she was calling for an investigation. Nassau County Legis. Seth Koslow (D-Merrick), who is running against Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, said he was demanding a legislative hearing.

Nassau’s medical examiner and ICE have not responded to Newsday.

But at an unrelated news conference Monday, Blakeman told Newsday that the detainee had "a serious, latent medical condition," according to preliminary reports.

"Basically, it was an unfortunate circumstance, and our heart goes out to his family members, but [the correction officers] acted appropriately. But again, we have to wait for the results of those investigations before we can say definitively," Blakeman said.

Nassau County Sheriff Anthony LaRocco, who oversees the East Meadow jail, wrote in a statement last week: "There is an ongoing investigation, which will be thorough and transparent to determine the cause of death ... Nassau County takes seriously its obligation to treat every prisoner humanely."

At around 6:30 a.m. on Thursday, police arrived at the Nassau County Correctional Center to find Banegas Reyes "not breathing," according to a police news release Friday.

He was in his cell, "unresponsive," and a police medic pronounced him dead at the scene, according to the release.

On Wednesday, ICE agents arrested Banegas Reyes outside the Key Food on Fulton Avenue in Hempstead, his sister said in a Facebook video. Islip Forward, a nonprofit that tracks sightings of ICE agents across Long Island, published a grainy photo of authorities outside the grocery store that day.

His arrest was part of an ongoing mass deportation by the Trump administration, primarily aimed at those with criminal records, government officials have said. But advocates say many others without criminal records are being swept up as well, with families being separated.

The ICE website says it must report any detainee's death "in a timely, accurate and appropriate manner" and notify all "relevant parties," including next of kin. ICE is supposed to post a news release with "relevant details" within two business days and make public all in-custody deaths within 90 days, the website said.

Banegas Reyes was detained in the East Meadow jail as part of Nassau’s partnership with ICE. In February, Blakeman allotted 50 local jail cells for the federal agency, which has held more than 1,400 people there as of June. The federal government is reimbursing Nassau at a nightly rate of $195 per ICE detainee, according to Blakeman.

Blakeman has said local police will not turn anyone over to ICE unless they are accused of a crime.

Banegas Reyes did not have a criminal history, according to his family. Newsday was unable to corroborate that claim on Monday.

Osman Canales, a community activist, called for an end to ICE raids.

"What happened to Santos should never happen to anyone. This family shouldn’t be going through this pain right now," Canales said Monday. "This is the abuse that ICE is doing against our community ... separating families, taking innocent workers from our communities."

He said the family learned of the death through a Newsday story, then went to a hospital and finally the morgue, where relatives identified the body.

Canales and about 50 protesters outside the Nassau jail on Monday evening demanded that the county end its partnership with ICE and release information about Banegas Reyes' death.

"Remember this at the ballot box," Michael Adams, political education chairperson of Long Island Democratic Socialists of America, told the group.

Banegas Reyes came to the United States in 2021 for work and to support his family, his sister said.

The sister, who also spoke on a Facebook livestream Sunday, said local officials have left her family in the dark about his death.

"No one has called us. Not from [ICE], not from the jail," she said. "What I want most is justice ... so that no other family has to go through this process.

"My brother was a very cheerful, kind and loving person," she said, through tears. "We miss him a lot."

As of Monday morning, Banegas Reyes’ family had raised more than $7,000 for funeral arrangements across two online fundraisers. His relatives plan to send his body to Honduras for burial, his sister said.