Mysterious Death of Chicago Business Owner in ICE Detention Sparks Family’s Quest for Justice

CHICAGO (WLS) — For numerous families in Chicago, “North Lake” carries a weighty significance that can feel foreboding.

Situated in the rural expanse of Baldwin, Michigan, the North Lake Correctional Facility has become a pivotal location for many. In the past year, this center has housed hundreds of individuals detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), standing as one of the Midwest’s most sizable detention facilities.

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While some detainees have faced deportation or returned to Chicago through legal perseverance, one man’s story took a tragic turn he will never return from.

Nenko Gantchev, a 56-year-old detainee, passed away on December 15, 2025, at the North Lake facility. His death adds to a growing list of fatalities in ICE detention centers nationwide, where there are heightened worries about the quality of conditions and medical care provided to detainees.

This troubling trend has prompted lawmakers to question the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) about the increasing number of deaths. In response, the DHS Inspector General’s office has declared an examination into the conditions prevailing within these detention centers.

The I-Team found at least 45 people have died in ICE detention centers since the start of President Donald Trump’s second administration, according to ICE records.

DHS officials have been adamant there is no spike in deaths, and that while people are housed by ICE, they receive “the best healthcare they have received

What happened to Nenko Gantchev?

Gantchev's family and friends say he was trying to do everything right.

After living in Chicago for 30 years, and owning his own business and real estate in the area, Gantchev and his American wife appeared for a green card interview last September when agents working under Operation Midway Blitz detained him. He was eventually transferred to the North Lake Correctional Facility in Michigan, where he would have sporadic video calls with his wife every week.

But 82 days after his arrest by ICE agents, Gantchev died.

Gantchev's wife and friends, who spoke with him while he was detained, believe prison officials did not take his deteriorating health seriously.

"There was no accommodation for his

But three minutes later, the guards said they heard a "crashing sound" and can be seen moving towards Gantchev's cell.

There, guards said they saw Gantchev "taking shallow gasps of air" and "turning blue."

"I radioed control while checking for breathing, and safely moving the detainee to a fetal position," one of the North Lake guards would later write that night.

North Lake's medical staff responded and, in the surveillance footage, Gantchev can be seen wheeled out of his cell on a stretcher.

Despite local EMS arriving, it was too late: Gantchev was pronounced dead less than an hour after guards first shined their lights on him.

A Michigan Medical Examiner ruled the manner of death "natural," caused by a heart attack with Gantchev's type two diabetes listed as a "contributory condition."

Investigators with the Lake County Michigan Sheriff's Office investigated Gantchev's death and determined "no further investigation

"It's just a tragedy that is bound to happen more," Madaras said. "The odds are high that the diabetic in detention can have a heart attack or a stroke."

Weeks before his death, Ganchev's wife told the I-Team he was seen by the detention center's medical team, and they acknowledged his health was in decline.

A Detainee Death Report prepared by ICE officials stated Gantchev "received... referrals for cardiology consultation and echocardiogram based on abnormal cardiac findings."

But his family says the offsite doctor visit and echocardiogram never happened. It's unclear whether the appointment was scheduled or not.

Local immigrant rights groups and physicians have raised concerns over access to medical care for people detained inside North Lake.

In a letter addressed to ICE officials, advocates with the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center and ACLU noted Gantchev's death and other cases where, "individuals in custody... have been denied or experienced significant delays in accessing both emergency and routine medical care."

ICE detention center deaths nationwide

Gantchev's case is just one of many stories nationwide.

The I-Team found at least 45 people have died in ICE detention centers since the start of President Donald Trump's second administration, according to ICE records.

During President Trump's first administration, the average number of ICE in-custody deaths per year was 12, including a sudden increase during the pandemic.

Half of the in-custody deaths that have occurred since Jan. 20, 2025, were in privately-owned prisons like North Lake.

Facilities owned by GEO Group, the company that owns North Lake, recorded 14 deaths in ICE custody since last February: more than any other private prison company.

A spokesperson for GEO Group referred all questions and requests for comment to DHS officials.

DHS officials told the I-Team, "There has been no spike in deaths."

"Consistent with data over the last decade, as of May 29, death rates in custody under the Trump administration are 0.008% of the detained population," a statement from a DHS spokesperson reads. "As bed space has rapidly expanded, we have maintained higher a standard of care than most prisons that hold U.S. citizens-including providing access to proper medical care."

At a recent Homeland Security oversight committee hearing, Illinois Representative Lauren Underwood pressed DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin over detention center deaths, who responded saying Illinois detention centers are not safer.

"Does DHS have any official specific internal goals or policies to reduce deaths in custody?" asked Underwood.

"Ma'am, your numbers just aren't accurate," Mullin responded. "This is 0.009% of deaths, and we've had 54 total in the president's time."

Mullin continued, "Those are dangerous accusations you're making because in the state of Illinois, they're twice as high. You're twice as high to die in a state penitentiary in Illinois than they are in a detention center."

Six-month payment processing gap

Attorneys and doctors have raised concerns over a potential six-month gap in offsite medical care for ICE detainees that started late last year.

"Deaths in ICE custody have spiked to almost fivefold what they were before," said Kyle Virgien, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union. "And there are a variety of factors that explain that. One of them certainly is the lapse in payment processing."

Since 2002, ICE had an agreement with the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) to process all medical bills for anyone in ICE's custody who needed offsite care.

ICE would pay for it, and the VA would process the claims.

But attorneys and immigration advocates say that changed last October.

"For purely political reasons, the department stopped processing those payments, leaving ICE without a means to process payments to medical specialists and to pharmacies," Virgien explained.

Republican lawmakers have accused the agency of "robbing veterans" to pay for detainee healthcare, and on Oct. 3, the VA "abruptly and instantly terminated" its with agreement with ICE, according to federal contract records reviewed by the I-Team.

In the agency's urgent request for a new payment processing contractor, ICE officials wrote the gap in care was "an absolute emergency... lack of this support will delay critical medical care for