Two Michigan members of Congress, Reps. Hillary Scholten and Haley Stevens walked into the North Lake Processing Center near Baldwin on Tuesday looking for answers about how a man died in federal custody. They left saying they had more questions than when they arrived.
The tour of the privately run Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility came on the heels of a December detainee death that has triggered sharp concern about medical care, language access, and basic oversight inside the center.
Scholten and Stevens had already formally asked the Department of Homeland Security for a “thorough and transparent investigation” into the death and requested preliminary findings by Jan. 9, according to Scholten's Office. Their letter seeks details on medical screening for people entering the facility, whether required procedures were followed after the man was found unresponsive, and what staffing and medical resources are available on site. A video of the visit and brief remarks from the lawmakers is available from CBS News Detroit.
Limited Access, Interpreter Problems
The lawmakers said the living areas appeared orderly and the staff they encountered acted professionally. At the same time, they described their access as tightly constrained during what was supposed to be an oversight visit, FOX17 reported.
Nearly 100 detainees had signed up to speak with them, but Scholten and Stevens were allowed to meet with only about four people, according to the station. An interpreter that facility officials had said would be available did not appear, limiting conversations with non-English speakers. Scholten also said the tour was shortened from a planned three hours to roughly two, which she argued cut into the time they had hoped to use for private, one-on-one interviews.
The Death That Is Driving Oversight
The visit was prompted by the Dec. 15 death of 56-year-old Nenko Stanev Gantchev, who was found unresponsive in his cell at North Lake and later pronounced dead, Michigan Advance reported. ICE has described his death as being from suspected natural causes, while the official cause remains under investigation, Newsweek noted.
Family members and immigrant advocates have been pushing for more information about what kind of medical care Gantchev received while he was in custody and whether warning signs were missed.
Why North Lake Matters
The North Lake Processing Center, operated by the GEO Group under contract with ICE, reopened in mid-2025 and is now the largest immigration detention hub in the Midwest, with space for about 1,800 people, The Marshall Project reported and ICE's facility list shows.
Advocates and local organizers warn that quickly ramping up large detention centers in rural areas can strain on-site medical staffing and translation services. Scholten and Stevens said both of those issues surfaced during their tour, citing the missing interpreter and the unanswered questions about how care is delivered to people held there. They argue that the mix of scale, remote location and private operation is exactly why regular transparency from DHS and ICE is critical.
What’s Next
Scholten and Stevens say they plan to keep pressing DHS for a full accounting of what happened in Gantchev’s case and for the department to release the preliminary findings they requested, Scholten's Office said.
In-custody deaths are already subject to internal oversight: the DHS Office of Inspector General and ICE's Office of Professional Responsibility review each case. Lawmakers said they expect those investigations to be part of the answer, according to Newsweek.
Until DHS releases its findings, the two congresswomen say, their curtailed visit has only underscored concerns about how medical care, language access and overall oversight are handled at large, privately operated detention centers like North Lake.
