Immigrant detainee dies at Otay Mesa ICE prison

SAN DIEGO, Calif. (KESQ) - An immigrant detainee died last weekend at Otay Mesa Detention Center, continuing what civil rights activists and other critics identify as a grim trend of increasing deaths of people in ICE custody.   

Shortly after 11:30 a.m. Saturday, a staff member at the Department of Homeland Security penitentiary near the U.S.-Mexico border "called a medical emergency after finding an unresponsive (detained) individual in their assigned living area,'' according to a statement from CoreCivic, the Tennessee-based private-prison company that runs the facility.

"Responding medical staff arrived quickly, began lifesaving measures and called for emergency medical services... . EMS arrived and continued those efforts, but the individual was pronounced deceased before being transported from the facility,'' the statement asserts.   

The company released no further information about the decedent or the circumstances of the death.  

"We are deeply saddened by the loss of anyone in our care,'' the company stated. "Our government partners at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement ... were notified immediately."  

ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the death.   

While exact numbers of such fatalities are elusive, the ACLU claimed last month that at least 57 people had died while in U.S. immigration detention since the start of President Donald Trump's second term -- more than double the number of deaths recorded from the previous four years combined.

According to a Human Rights Watch report released in June, the mortality rate of ICE detainees -- based on 52 known deaths at the time -- had reached its highest level in over a decade and more than doubled since Trump's current term began. The rate at that time was nearly four times that of the Biden administration, and more than 2 1/2 times as high as that of the first Trump administration, the watchdog organization reported.   

"Urgent action is needed to address this crisis and prevent further deaths,'' the report concluded.

During a news conference Tuesday afternoon, county Supervisors Paloma Aguirre and Terra Lawson-Remer called on the Trump administration and CoreCivic to cooperate with county investigators and clear the way for ongoing inspections.

"Earlier this year, we took ICE to federal court for blocking public health inspections amid disturbing reports of unsafe conditions at Otay Mesa (Detention Center),'' Lawson-Remer said. "Now a man has died inside that facility. When the federal government flouts due process and shuts the door on independent health inspectors, we cannot look away. We need answers, accountability and the ability to protect the health and safety of everyone held inside."  

The lawsuit "wasn't a political exercise -- it was a necessary step to protect human lives,'' Aguirre said.

"Ensuring basic human rights, medical oversight and safety within our borders is non-negotiable,'' she said. "ICE and CoreCivic must be held accountable for these failures right now, before another family is forced to suffer this same unimaginable grief."

The San Diego County medical examiner conducted an autopsy on the decedent Monday, according to the supervisors. A cause-of-death ruling in the case, however, has yet to be released.  

During their briefing, Aguirre and Lawson-Remer also announced that they had sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and acting ICE Director David Venturella demanding that the latter agency and CoreCivic take the following steps:
   -- Cooperate fully with the San Diego County medical examiner's investigation, including making staff available for interviews and turning over all requested records, logs and video;
   -- Preserve all data related to the death at the Otay Mesa prison, including the decedent's medical records, any sick-call requests, housing-unit logs, staff rounds and video;
   -- Provide a timeline of the decedent's care from intake to death, including any health conditions noted at intake, requests for medical help, medical visits and welfare checks;
   -- Where privacy law requires it, share this information with the
family and, with their consent, with the county;
   -- Provide a written accounting of corrective actions taken since the county inspection in June, including improvements to tuberculosis reporting, vaccine supply and any delays in providing prescribed medical devices;
   -- Confirm that the appropriate consulate has been notified if the decedent was a foreign national and publish ICE's death notice and detainee death report without delay; and
   -- Allow ongoing inspection access under San Diego County public health authority so its team can verify that the listed measures are being undertaken.

After ICE denied supervisors access to the detention center, the county sued and secured a federal court order allowing an inspection in June.   

That scrutiny identified failures to promptly report suspected tuberculosis cases, a lack of vaccines in stock and delays in providing necessary medical equipment, according to the supervisors. In September, the county issued another notice of noncompliance after a suspected tuberculosis case allegedly went unreported for about three weeks.   

The county's public health officer is evaluating additional oversight measures, including follow-up inspections. Litigation over the county's ongoing inspection authority remains unresolved, with the parties slated to meet again this Thursday.  

Aguirre and Lawson-Remer requested a written response from federal officials by Nov. 10.