China demands answers after man dies in ICE custody

The Chinese government has asked the United States to investigate the death of a 51-year-old Chinese national who died hours after being booked into an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in the U.S. territory of Saipan, according to news reports.

Lianyong Wei, who had been arrested on several charges after being accused of assaulting a family of five at their residence, died Aug. 23, ICE officials said.

"We have expressed serious concerns to the relevant U.S. authorities over this incident and required a timely and thorough investigation into the cause of Mr. Wei's death, notification of the findings, measures to prevent any recurrence of similar incidents, and assistance to the family of the deceased in handling the aftermath," PBS reported the consulate as saying in a statement.

Wei was first arrested on Aug. 21 by officers of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands Department of Safety. Saipan is the capital and largest of the Northern Mariana Islands, part of the Pacific’s Mariana Archipelago just north of Guam.

U.S. forces claimed the islands of Saipan and Tinian from Japan during World War II in 1944, and the Northern Mariana Islands officially became a U.S. commonwealth and territory in the 1970s…

Original source: https://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/