‘Like a father figure’: Family mourns Parady La, Upper Darby man who died in ICE custody

Michael La, 34, has “a lot of memories” from the summers he spent as a child with his uncle, Parady La, who died Jan. 9 while in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody.

“He was like a father figure to me,” Michael said of his uncle. “My parents split up at a really early age of my life. I was a baby, so I didn’t get to see my two parents together, and my dad really wasn’t in my life, right? So [Parady] was the one that connected me to that side of my family.”

Parady La would drive two hours to Michael’s home in Allentown and bring him back to Philadelphia during Michael’s summer vacation. There, Michael recalled that his uncle would give him and other kids money for ice cream when the Mister Softee truck came by.

“He always put himself aside and looked out for his family,” Michael said.

Michael and Parady La’s other family members, friends and loved ones are mourning his loss and celebrating his life at a memorial service in Upper Darby on Friday, even as they push for information about the circumstances that led to the 46-year-old’s death last week.

Michael started a GoFundMe for the family to help pay for funeral expenses and support Parady La’s 23-year-old daughter, Jazmine La. Donations will also go toward the family’s efforts to pursue legal action against ICE and Federal Detention Center Philadelphia.

What happened to Parady La?

According to Michael, on Jan. 6, Parady La asked his cousin if she needed anything from the grocery store. Hours later, family members found his car, empty, parked by the side of the road a half-mile away. Parady La called later that day and informed his family that ICE agents had pulled him over and asked for his ID, and then detained him.

Michael, who lives in Florida, said his cousin called him at 3:30 p.m. on Jan. 8 and told him Parady La was in the hospital, and was brain dead.

“One thing is huge, is that your family member, who’s been here their whole life … that he’s being sent to a country he’s never been to before,” he said. “So we’re dealing with that in 24 hours, and a little after 24 hours, we hear that he’s in the hospital, brain dead. So it’s just shocking and really confusing on top of that.”

According to a Jan. 10 statement by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Parady La was “receiving treatment for severe drug withdrawal” while in detention at FDC Philadelphia. On Jan. 7, the statement reads, Parady “was found unresponsive in his cell.” The statement said that FDC officers administered CPR and several doses of NARCAN and called for medical assistance.

Parady La was admitted to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital that evening in critical condition, and pronounced dead the morning of Jan. 9, ICE officials said.

For Michael and Parady La’s family, ICE’s account “didn’t add up.”

Michael, who flew into Philadelphia hours after his uncle passed away, said his family’s understanding is that Parady La informed officers that he was going through fentanyl withdrawal soon after he was detained. They’re questioning why NARCAN, which is used for opioid overdoses, was administered to Parady La when he was experiencing withdrawal symptoms.

“As we keep fighting for information, we’re finding out that there’s like levels of information that just become locked, you know?” he said. “We’re still fighting for answers and still trying to figure out what’s going on.”

Michael said his family now has a legal team and is going to pursue legal action against FDC Philadelphia and ICE.

“This fight isn’t about deportation,” Michael said. “It’s about the care that each and every person needs when they are in custody, whether it is in ICE custody, FDC, or, you know, a different federal agency … If you bring somebody in your home, I feel like it’s your duty to make sure that they’re cared for in your home.”

Shut Down Detention Campaign, a coalition of organizations and individuals fighting to end immigrant detention, said in a press statement that Parady La’s death was “completely preventable and is a direct result of egregious medical neglect.”  According to the group, “several sources” said that Parady La “told staff he was going through fentanyl withdrawal and repeatedly requested care after vomiting several times throughout January 6th.”

In its statement about Parady La’s death, ICE said it “is committed to ensuring that all those in custody reside in safe, secure and humane environments.”

“Comprehensive medical care is provided from the moment individuals arrive and throughout the entirety of their stay … At no time during detention is a detained alien denied emergency care,” the statement reads.

Parady La is the fourth person to die in ICE custody at a Pennsylvania detention center since December 2023. Nationwide, 32 people died in ICE custody in 2025, making it the deadliest year since 2004.

Born in a refugee camp in Thailand, Parady La was 2 years old when he and his family fled the Cambodian genocide and arrived in Philadelphia in 1982.

ICE’s statement on Parady La’s death describes him as a “criminal illegal alien from Cambodia,” and lists his criminal history, including a number of misdemeanor convictions.

Michael said his uncle’s struggle with substance abuse was heightened by the death of Parady La’s younger brother, John Lar, who was shot and killed in 2005.

But for Michael, Parady La “was an American,” he said, and “he was failed.”