A former DACA recipient died in federal custody at a California hospital, one day after he was transferred from one of the state’s largest ICE detention centers, Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced Tuesday.
Ismael Ayala-Uribe, 39, a Mexican national, was declared dead around 2:30 a.m. Monday at the Victor Valley Global Medical Center in Victorville, according to an ICE statement. He is the 14th detainee to die in ICE custody this year amid a surge in immigration arrests and detainments. Ayala-Uribe’s cause of death is still under investigation, ICE said.
After ICE agents arrested Ayala-Uribe during an enforcement action on Aug. 17, he was sent to the Adelanto ICE Processing Center. The complex has, for years, drawn condemnation from detainees, attorneys and state and federal inspectors for its shoddy medical care and scant mental health services, according to the Los Angeles Times.
In the last two months, however, the center’s population has nearly quadrupled, leaving living conditions increasingly desperate.
On Sept. 18, an on-call medical provider evaluated Ayala-Uribe, dispensed medication, and sent him back to his dormitory. Three days later, on Sept. 21, he was referred to the medical center and scheduled for surgery for an abscess on his buttock, according to ICE. He was hypertensive and his heartbeat was abnormally fast. He was declared unresponsive at 1:48 a.m. Monday before he was declared dead over 30 minutes later, according to ICE.
Ayala-Uribe became a DACA recipient in 2012, according to ICE. In 2016, ICE declined to renew his protected status.
DACA, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, temporarily shields young adults, also known as “Dreamers” from deportation and allows them access to work permits. The federal government is not accepting any new Dreamers into the program in response to federal court action, though existing recipients can apply for renewals.
According to ICE, Ayala-Uribe was convicted in Orange County on two DUIs in 2015 and 2019. His second offense resulted in 120 days in jail and five years of probation.
ICE officials announced Ayala-Uribe’s death the same day two Democratic senators sent a letter to United States Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Todd Lyons, ICE’s acting director raising concerns of rising deaths in ICE custody nationwide, which was first reported by NPR.
