The first death of a detainee at the GEO-run Adelanto ICE Processing Center, since the Trump administration took office, has been confirmed, according to a press release by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Ismael Ayala-Uribe, 39, of Mexico, passed away in the early morning hours on Monday.
L.A. TACO spoke with the family and learned that Ayala-Uribe was brought to the U.S. at the age of four and has called Westminster in Orange County home his whole life. He was unmarried, but according to his younger brother Jose, Ismael, who was the oldest, treated their sister’s children as his own.
According to the family, Ayala-Uribe was healthy when he was detained over a month ago, but became ill in the last two weeks. His mother, Lucia Ayala, would visit him every Saturday. She first noticed Ayala-Uribe started getting a cough two weeks ago. She instructed her son to ask for medication, but told her, “Amá, no me quieren dar nada.” (Mom, they don’t want to give me anything).
The following Saturday, Ayala-Uribe told his mom, “Amá, me siento mal.” (Mom, I don’t feel good.) Lucia Ayala tells L.A. TACO that she would beg her son to seek medical attention from the guards, but that his reply was always, “They don’t believe I’m sick,” until he started shaking in his cell. Cellmates alerted guards, who sounded a code blue. They started giving him 500 mg of Tylenol three times a day and gave him a shot of something, but it didn’t improve his health.
This last Saturday, when Mom and Dad went to visit again, Ayala described seeing her son with pale skin and bloodshot eyes. Ayala-Uribe tells his mother, “Ya no puedo mas, amá” (I can’t any more, mom).