Around 50 people gathered Sunday night outside the Ste. Genevieve County Sheriff’s Office and Detention Center to mourn Leo Cruz-Silva, a 34-year-old Mexican immigrant who died while detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement last week.
Cruz-Silva was arrested by Festus police on Sept. 30 for public intoxication, according to federal immigration officials. He was transferred to ICE custody on Oct. 1 and taken to the Ste. Genevieve Detention Center. He died one day after arriving.
“He wasn't even here for more than 24 hours,” said Sarah Drost. She was one of the dozens of people who attended the vigil and is president of Abide in Love-Ste. Genevieve, a group that works to help ICE detainees in Missouri jails and helped organize the vigil.
She said the group’s work will continue with greater urgency.
Cruz-Silva’s death is the second reported suicide in ICE custody in Missouri and at least the 15th detainee death nationwide in 2025, according to data on the agency’s website.
Heidi Walker runs Abide in Love-Ste. Genevieve’s pen pal program, which connects detainees with people outside the jail.
“Maybe, if someone would have been able to reach him in time, maybe he would have known that people care,” Walker said. “Even if it was just like a little glimmer of hope.”
Walker said Cruz-Silva’s death highlights the emotional toll of detention and the lack of support for those in custody.
“Something has to be done. Just the amount of pain they're feeling that someone would take their own life,” she said.
Susie Johnson, founder and board member of Abide in Love, said the number of ICE detainees in the jail has grown significantly.
“When we first started, there were 60 or 70 ICE detainees. Now there's been well over 100 every day,” she said. “They're coming and going very quickly.”
Johnson said the organization provides support such as $25 phone cards so detainees can call their families.
“Many of them, their families don't know where they are,” she said. “I'm just so sorry that we weren't able to assist Leo … this could happen to anyone.”
“He was a person, he was a brother, he was a son, he was a person,” she added. “All loss of life, in my opinion, is tragic, and I hate that it happened in our community, and I hope that it never happens again.”
