Venezuelan rapper with legal status alleges tuberculosis outbreak, overcrowding at Louisiana ICE facility
Aug 13, 2026·Location: LA
Country of origin: Venezuela

Adonys Francisco Mata Martinez, a Venezuelan freestyle rapper known as AdonysX who held Temporary Protected Status and had a pending extraordinary-talent artist visa application, was detained by ICE in late May after a traffic stop in Florida in which officers found no violation but identified his immigration status via his license plate. He said, 'We are not criminals for them to treat us this way,' describing five days sleeping on the floor at a Miramar processing center without the ability to bathe, followed by about a month at Krome Detention Center before being transferred with roughly 50 others to a facility in Louisiana. There, he said he works in the kitchen for one dollar a day amid cockroaches and insects, and reported chest pains dismissed as anxiety and a dental nerve problem he tried to self-treat after being denied a dentist. Nearly three months into his Louisiana detention, with his immigration court hearing repeatedly delayed by continuances, he alleged staff are overcrowding detainees—citing 76 people in a single cell—and reported widespread cases of tuberculosis and pink eye, saying in Spanish, 'They're trying to kill us.' ICE denied the allegations, stating that being in detention is a choice.
Timeline
Sources
- Tenía TPS, pero igual se lo llevaron: el artista venezolano detenido en Florida cuenta su calvario con el ICE
lanacion.com.ar·Aug 11, 2026·archived copy
- Venezolano ganó competencia de freestyle y termina detenido por ICE en Florida - Noticiero Caracas
noticierocaracas.com·Aug 12, 2026·archived copy
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