Deportation Officer Roberto Carlos Cantu

Roberto Carlos Cantu

Deportation Officer Bobby Cantu died as a result of contracting COVID-19 while serving at the Port Isabel Detention Center at 27991 Buena Vista Boulevard in Los Fresnos.

Officer Cantu was a United States Marine Corps veteran and had served 19 years with the United States Department of Homeland Security - Immigration and Customs Enforcement - Office of Enforcement and Removal Operations for 19 years. He is survived by his wife, two sons, his father and stepmother, and two brothers.

The Effects of COVID on Law Enforcement

Beginning in early 2020, thousands of law enforcement officers and other first responders throughout the country began to contract COVID-19 during the worldwide pandemic. Due to the nature of their job, law enforcement officers were required to work and interact with the community even as the majority of the country was self-quarantined. As a result, hundreds of officers died from COVID-related illnesses and other complications.

Corrections agencies, in particular, suffered tremendous losses due to the constant and close proximity between the corrections officers and large inmate populations. Since March 2020, ODMP has verified that over 600 law enforcement officers have died as the result of a confirmed or presumed exposure while on duty and continues to work with hundreds of other agencies that have suffered a COVID-related death.

Visit ODMP's COVID-19 memorial listing every officer who has died as a result of a confirmed or presumed exposure.