Southern California lawmakers are demanding answers from U.S. Homeland Security officials following the deaths of two Orange County residents and nearly two dozen others while in federal immigration custody.<\/p>\n
In a letter Friday to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem<\/a>, U.S. Reps. Dave Min (D-Irvine) and Judy Chu (D-Pasadena) pointed to the deaths of 25 people so far this year while being held by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The number of in-custody deaths has reached an annual record since the agency began keeping track in 2018. <\/p>\n Two Mexican immigrants \u2014 who had long made their homes in Orange County and were sent to the Adelanto ICE Processing Center north of Hesperia \u2014 were among the deaths.<\/p>\n \u201cThese are not just numbers on a website, but real people \u2014 with families, jobs, and hopes and dreams \u2014 each of whom died in ICE custody,\u201d the lawmakers wrote. \u201cThe following cases illustrate systemic patterns of delayed treatment, neglect, and failure to properly notify families.\u201d<\/p>\n Ismael Ayala-Uribe<\/a>, 39, died Sept. 22 about a month after being apprehended while working at the Fountain Valley Auto Wash, where he had worked for 15 years, according to a GoFundMe post<\/a> by his family. <\/p>\n He had lived in Westminster since he was 4 years old, and had previously been protected from deportation under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, known as DACA. The Times previously reported that his application for continued protection was not renewed in 2016. <\/p>\n Ayala-Uribe\u2019s relatives and members of Congress have alleged that he was denied proper medical care after being taken into ICE custody in August. Adelanto detention staff members were aware of his medical crisis, according to internal emails obtained by The Times. But Ayala-Uribe initially was taken back to his Adelanto dorm room, where he waited for another three days before being moved to Victor Valley Global Medical Center in Victorville. <\/p>\n ICE officials acknowledged that Ayala-Uribe died at the Victorville hospital while waiting for surgery for an abscess on his buttock. The suspected cause of the sore was not disclosed.<\/p>\n Ayala-Uribe\u2019s cause of death is under investigation, ICE has previously said<\/a>. <\/p>\n A second man \u2014 Gabriel Garcia-Aviles, 56, who lived near Costa Mesa \u2014 died Oct. 23, about a week after being detained. <\/p>\n ICE said Garcia-Aviles was arrested Oct. 14 in Santa Ana by the U.S. Border Patrol for an outstanding warrant, and eventually sent to the Adelanto center. ICE said in a previous statement that he was only at the Adelanto facility for a few hours before he was taken to the Victorville hospital for \u201csuspected alcohol withdrawal symptoms.\u201d <\/p>\n His condition rapidly worsened.<\/p>\n The deaths have focused attention on the treatment of detained immigrants as well as long-standing concerns about medical care inside Adelanto, one of the largest federal immigration detention centers in California. The situation raises broader concerns about whether immigration detention centers throughout the country are equipped to care for the deluge of people rounded up since President Trump prioritized mass deportations as part of his second-term agenda.<\/p>\n \u201cThese deaths raise serious questions about ICE\u2019s ability to comply with basic detention standards, medical care protocols, and notification requirements, and underscore a pattern of gross negligence that demands immediate accountability,\u201d Min and Chu wrote in the letter to Noem and Todd M. Lyons, the acting director of ICE.<\/p>\n The letter was signed by 43 other lawmakers, including Reps. Robert Garcia (D-Long Beach), J. Luis Correa (D-Santa Ana), John Garamendi (D-Walnut Grove) and Maxine Waters<\/a> (D-Los Angeles).<\/p>\n An ICE representative did not immediately respond to an email Saturday seeking comment. <\/p>\n The lawmakers stressed the need to treat the immigrants with humanity. <\/p>\n The lawmakers said Garcia-Aviles had lived in the U.S. for three decades. His family did not learn of his dire medical condition until \u201che was on his deathbed.\u201d Family members drove to the hospital<\/a> to find him \u201cunconscious, intubated, and . . . [with] dried blood on his forehead\u201d as well as \u201ca cut on his tongue … broken teeth and bruising on his body.\u201d <\/p>\n