Roll of Honor
Roberto Carlos Cantu
Incident
Location: Texas Incident Date: Not available
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.
COVID-19 and Law Enforcement
Deportation Officer Roberto Carlos Cantu died on September 13, 2021 of COVID-19 contracted in the line of duty. He was 51.
He is one of 884 officers honored here, and one of 13 at United States Department of Homeland Security - Immigration and Customs Enforcement - Office of Enforcement and Removal Operations.
Beginning in early 2020, law enforcement officers across the country contracted COVID-19 in the course of their duties. While much of the nation sheltered at home, they kept answering calls, making arrests, transporting prisoners, and working face to face with the public. There was no distance to be had from the job.
Corrections officers were hit hardest. Confined facilities and large populations meant constant, close, unavoidable exposure.
Survivors
He is survived by his wife, two sons, his father and stepmother, and two brothers.
In Our Keeping
- Permanent identifier
BO-US-FED-15601D0A- Stewardship
- Maintained by NeuraWeb Global Inc.
- Added to badge.nw
- April 2, 2026
- Last updated
- July 23, 2026
Honored here by 1 sentinel - 1 tribute.
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Tributes
The country locked its doors. You kept working.
Deportation Officer Cantu gave the United States Department of Homeland Security 19 years.
Thank you for your service. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Deportation Officer Cantu.
— S. Vincent Anthony, U.S. Army 1985-1993
Agency
Service Record
Incident Details
Military Service
Roberto Carlos Cantu served in the Marine Corps (1996â2000) before joining law enforcement.
Deportation Officer Roberto Carlos Cantu is one of 2,974 officers lost to illness connected to their service across the full record of this memorial — 9.1% of all 32,508 officers honored here.
In DC, 137 of 1,419 officers were lost to illness connected to their service — 9.7% of this state's fallen. That is 0.6 percentage points above the national rate of 9.1%.
At United States Department of Homeland Security - Immigration and Customs Enforcement - Office of Enforcement and Removal Operations, 13 of 15 officers on record were lost to illness connected to their service — 86.7% of this agency's fallen.
National Cause Distribution
How Illness compares to all causes of officer death in the memorial record. Roberto Carlos Cantu's cause is highlighted.
How Roberto Carlos Cantu Compares
When Illness Deaths Occur
Monthly distribution of Illness deaths across the full memorial record. Roberto Carlos Cantu is highlighted in Sep.
Incident Location
Others Who Wore This Badge
14 officers from United States Department of Homeland Security - Immigration and Customs Enforcement - Office of Enforcement and Removal Operations are honored on badge.nw.
