A Mexican immigrant has died at a detention center outside Los Angeles, marking at least the 14th death in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody since the year began.
Security staff at the Adelanto detention center found José Guadalupe Ramos unconscious and unresponsive in his bunk on 25 March, according to an ICE press release. Staff attempted to carry out life-saving procedures, including CPR, then called emergency services, who took Ramos to Victory Valley Global Medical Center in nearby Victorville. He was pronounced dead there at 9.29 pm.
At his medical screening on 24 February, ICE found that Ramos suffered from diabetes, hypertension and hyperlipidemia. He received “daily medication to treat his illness”, according to ICE.
It was not clear whether he received medication for a single illness or all three. The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) did not immediately respond to a request for clarification.
The number of immigrants in ICE detention has reached record levels since Donald Trump launched his sweeping mass deportation campaign last year and human rights groups and legal defenders have raised concerns for detainee safety.
Thirty-two migrants died while locked in immigrant detention centers last year, marking the deadliest year in detention since 2004. The number of detainee deaths so far is already on pace to exceed last year’s.
Claudia Sheinbaum, the Mexican president, said at a press conference on Monday that Mexico would protest about the deaths of Mexican nationals.
“We’ll be taking several actions to protest the death of another Mexican, another countryman, in the United States,” Sheinbaum said. “Especially in that detention center in Los Angeles,” she added, referring to Adelanto, noting that several other Mexican migrants had died there since Trump took office.
Diplomatic officials planned to raise their objections and human rights concerns to the Trump administration and members of the US Congress, according to the news outlet Milenio. They also plan to take their grievances to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
Ramos was the fourth Mexican national to die at Adelanto since last year.
The Adelanto detention facility is run as a for-profit enterprise by GEO Group, ICE’s largest private contractor. A coalition of immigrant rights and legal defense groups filed a federal lawsuit against GEO Group earlier this year, alleging that the Adelanto facility subjected detainees to inhumane treatment, including medical neglect.
Source: The Guardian
