About the archive
Every life was a whole world.
Who this archive remembers
Lives. Deaths. Stories. is a memorial archive for immigrants who died in the custody of U.S. immigration authorities — in ICE detention, CBP custody, private detention facilities, or during immigration-enforcement action in the United States and along its borders. Each entry is a full human portrait, not a statistic.
Why this archive exists
Loss is often reported as a number, or not reported at all. This archive holds that number open, one life at a time, and keeps company with the details that make a person a person — the small habits, the ways of speaking, the people who loved them.
How stories arrive here
Every story in this archive was originally written elsewhere and is preserved here with the author's explicit permission. Before a story appears on the public archive, it is reviewed by an editor for accuracy, formatting, and respectful presentation. Imported drafts are never visible to the public until that review is complete.
Editorial stewardship
We keep the memorial text faithful to how it was written. We do not rewrite, summarize, embellish, or invent details about anyone. Missing information — a birthdate, a place, a name — is left as intentionally unknown rather than guessed at.
Language
The archive is bilingual: English and Spanish. Spanish translations are produced by a language model, then reviewed editorially over time. Each memorial page indicates whether its translation has been editor-reviewed.
Corrections and family concerns
If you are a family member, friend, or witness of someone represented here and you would like a correction made, or a memorial adjusted or removed, please reach out through the Substack below — messages go directly to the editor. Corrections are handled on a case-by-case basis, with care.
Names, images, and family requests
Names and images appear here only when they were already public in the original memorial or in reported coverage cited alongside it. When identity has been withheld by family or authorities, we mark the entry as such and hold the story without a name. Family members and next of kin may request a correction, redaction, additional context, or full removal of a memorial at any time — those requests are honored, and we do not require legal process. Please write to the editor via the Substack link above.
About the creator
Christian Kunz
@livesdeathsstories
Lives. Deaths. Stories. is written and edited by Christian Kunz — an attorney, social work professor, and advocate. He documents deaths connected to ICE and Border Patrol because the full story is rarely told.
Christian is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Education & Social Work at Brigham Young University–Hawaiʻi, where he has taught since 2012. He holds a Juris Doctor from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (with a Certificate in Native Hawaiian Law) and a Master of Social Work from the University of Georgia, and serves as a Guardian ad Litem in the Oʻahu Juvenile Court.