The brother of the man who died while in ICE custody at a facility in Clearfield County on Aug. 5 has filed a lawsuit against the federal government, in an effort to get more information about his brother’s death.
Chaofeng Ge was found hanging by his neck in a shower stall at the Moshannon Valley Processing Center. The death was determined to be a suicide.
GEO Group runs the facility as a detention center for ICE. Ge’s brother, Yanfeng Ge said in the suit that GEO did not reach out to the family to explain what happened.
And, he said, his brother was isolated because no one in the facility spoke Mandarin Chinese and staff did not try to communicate with him. The suit says Yanfeng Ge filed a Freedom of Information Act request in September, but it was ignored.
"I am (devastated) by the loss of my brother and by the knowledge that he was suffering so greatly in that detention center," Ge said in a statement Wednesday, adding that he wants answers and accountability.
The family's lawyer said in a statement that the “lack of transparency” about what's happening at ICE detention centers needs to stop.
"People are dying and our government doesn’t have the common decency to offer the family any explanation, it’s appalling,” said David B. Rankin, attorney for the family.
According to an ICE spokesman, ICE does not comment on pending litigation.
The suit was filed in the southern district of New York against ICE and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. It asks the court to order ICE and Homeland Security to comply with the the Freedom of Information Act and produce the records requested by Ge's family, or to justify the reason for withholding the records.
