Cambodian-born ICE detainee dies at Indiana facility
A Cambodian-born lawful permanent resident died while in ICE custody at a state prison in northern Indiana, according to federal authorities.
ICE said Lorth Sim, 59, was found unresponsive in his cell at Miami Correctional Facility in Miami County on Monday and was pronounced dead at 7:10 a.m. after facility staff and EMS attempted lifesaving measures. His cause of death remains under investigation.
Sim entered the United States as a refugee in 1983 and became a lawful permanent resident in 1986. ICE described him as a convicted felon, citing arrests for disorderly conduct in 1989, indecent exposure in 1996, and larceny in 2005. He received a suspended sentence and probation in those cases and did not serve prison time.
In 2006, ICE arrested Sim and an immigration judge ordered his removal to Cambodia. On Dec. 30, 2025, ICE officers encountered him at the agency’s office lobby in Boston, informed him he was under arrest under a warrant of removal, and took him into custody.
ICE Boston transferred him to ICE Chicago custody on Jan. 5, 2026.
The agency said it notified the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General, ICE’s Office of Professional Responsibility and the Cambodian consulate about the death, as required by policy.
“Lorth Sim’s family deserves answers, and so do the American people,” U.S. Rep. Andre Carson, an Indiana Democrat, said in a statement. “ICE has shown they have a disregard for human life. We need to know exactly what caused Lorth’s death. I’m demanding DHS give us answers, now.”
WFYI reported that Miami Correctional Facility began holding ICE detainees last October under an agreement between the Department of Homeland Security and the State of Indiana. The outlet reported that Sim’s death is the seventh this year of an ICE detainee nationwide.
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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
