Bulgarian man dies in ICE detention at Northern Michigan facility

https://www.mlive.com/news/2025/12/bulgarian-man-dies-in-ice-detention-at-northern-michigan-facility.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=redditsocial&utm_campaign=redditor

by Hazer_123

40 comments

  1. Tragic and concerning. Cause still under investigation.

  2. For those who can’t access to the article

    >Bulgarian man dies in ICE detention at Northern Michigan facility

    >An aerial image of the North Lake Processing Center in Baldwin, Mich. is the largest U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility in the Midwest. With 1,800 beds, it’s owned and operated by GEO Group, a private prison company that landed a federal contract to reopen the former prison in 2025. It’s the only for-profit, private immigration detention center in Michigan. Joel Bissell | MLive.com

    >By Rose White | rwhite@mlive.com

    >BALDWIN, MI – A man died in detention this week at the North Lake Processing Center, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Northern Michigan, according to congressional sources.

    >The death on Monday, Dec. 15, first reported by Metro Times Detroit, remains under investigation.

    >ICE has not publicly reported the death, but its website says it posts new releases about detainee deaths within two business days. The agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

    >The man was identified as Nenko Gantchev, 56, a Bulgarian who was arrested in Chicago. It’s unclear how long Gantchev was in ICE detention, but a court filing shows he was being held as of Oct. 22.

  3. Not a safe country at all anymore. I am so tired of this shit.

  4. How many people have to die before we can call them death camps

  5. That can probably happen to basically anyone. I mean getting detained by ICE. They do unlawful shit, thats clear as the sky

  6. Sorry to hear that. Also makes me scared about my own life.

  9. This [CBS article](https://www.cbsnews.com/detroit/news/bulgarian-citizen-dies-in-custody-of-ice-while-held-at-west-michigan-facility-authorities-say/) provides some additional contexts.

    >Gantchev did have lawful permanent resident status from 2005 until 2009, the press release said. But in 2023, an immigration judge ordered him to leave the U. S. and return to Bulgaria.

    If you chose to believe ICE, they also have a [page providing more information about Nenko Stanev Gantchev](https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/illegal-alien-bulgaria-passes-away-north-lake-processing-center-natural-causes).

    >Gantchev was arrested by Chicago Police Department in Chicago, for theft, Oct. 8, 1995, following his June 16, 1995, admission into the U.S. as an J1 exchange visitor. The disposition of that arrest is unknown. Gantchev was arrested again, Dec. 3, 1996, by CPD for theft. On Jan. 21, 1997, the Cook Circuit Court, Chicago, disposed of the theft charges with leave to reinstate.

    >On March 28, 2000, the River Grove Polic Department, Village of River Grove, Ill., arrested Gantchev for assault and battery. On Aug. 8, 2000, the Cook County Circuit Court disposed of the assault and battery charges with leave to reinstate.

    >On May 22, 2008, Gantchev was arrested by Park Ridge Police Department, Park Ridge, Ill., for driving under the influence. The disposition is unknown.

    If these information are true, he’s been living in the US for more than 30 years now and has had several run-ins with the law. To be clear, he doesn’t deserve to die and the poor treatment by ICE should be investigated yet it’s unclear why he wasn’t deported any time in the last 30 years.

  11. After having lived in the US and gotten to know so many great people there and visiting regularly, I’m not touching this country with a ten foot pole anymore. Way too dangerous.

  12. Wonder how many tourists will be killed by ICE during the World Cup?

  13. Tragic and disturbing, no one should die in custody. There needs to be real transparency and accountability for what happened here 

  14. If U currently have no legal status to be in USA…get the hell out….at least U can decide when to leave.

    ICE catches up with you….it could be months of imprisonment…no contact with family… you’ll be lucky to talk to a lawyer.

  15. Bulgaria is oficially more developed than USA at this point

  16. >for-profit, private immigration detention center

    What the actual fuck?

  17. More info from Bulgarian media from an interview with his wife – he was a diabetic and wasn’t given insulin by the guards for a few days, he was told to contact his doctor for a note. 

    He was also a truck driver and had his own small transport firm with 2-4 employees. 

  18. Baldwin seems like such a weird place to have an immigration detention center. Not near a border, major airport, or interstate highway. Really in the middle of nowhere.

  19. USA literally kidnaps random tourists and dumps them in black holes to die or never to be heard from again. It’s an illusion that it only happens to illegal immigrants. 

  20. The US is no longer safe for any foreigner. I been to the US many times but right now I wouldn’t even accept a free trip.

  23. So USA is starting to kill EU citizens? Not good USA, not good.

  25. Simply not a safe country. Not for its own citizens and definitely not for us.

    It’s time we rethink any planned visits or moves there.

    We really don’t know how good we have it in Europe

  26. > ICE claims he died of natural causes

    I’m pretty sure he’d still be alive if it wasn’t for ICE

  27. I wonder how many people are thrown in there with serious health conditions needing blood pressure medications and other critical medications that otherwise would likely not be given or takes days or weeks to get to them. I would be totally fucked if they threw me in a place like that.

  29. Boycotting the USA, especially during the World Cup, never felt more right.

  30. There are countries that are blacklisted as travel destinations for me. America joined this list when i learned that ICE arrested a Canadian woman and held her for two weeks not letting her have contact… for some clerical error. This was months ago. Now the USA has literal deathcamps.

  32. Interesting timing since another thread here yesterday was filled with people calling us hysterical for saying you could die when travelling to the US.

  33. How many have died in detention this year? Does anyone know? This must be at least the 3rd incident I’ve personally heard of.

  35. Nazis killing human beings in their concentration camps, im shocked.

  36. I genuinely hope we’ll see another Nuremberg for these evil gestapo fucks and their fascist masters.

  37. How long is it going to be until other countries start looking into this?? This is not a thing that the world can just turn away from! We’ve seen this before, we know how this ends!

  38. This is only a death that we KNOW ABOUT 

    How many more are dying in these camps in America in 2025?

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