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).
The family planned to talk to the lawyer on Monday, yesterday, but Sunday morning, Ayala-Uribe was taken to the hospital. The agents refused to disclose any further information.
On Monday morning, at 5:40 a.m., Huntington Beach Police came to deliver the news that their son had passed away.
Ayala-Uribe worked at Fountain Valley Auto Wash for the last 15 years, where he was the manager up until August 17th, when federal agents abducted him along with four other employees. He is remembered as a “good person with a good soul” and is dearly loved and missed by his family, customers, and coworkers, who are offering the family their support.
He was detained by Customs and Border Protection on August 17 and was transferred to Adelanto ICE Processing Center on August 22. In the press release, ICE states that Ayala-Uribe had two DUIs.
According to the press release, Ayala-Uribe was a former DACA recipient whose application for renewal was denied in 2016. The subheading for the press release reads, “Illegal alien previously convicted of DUI on two occasions,” trying to emphasize his record.
On Sept. 18, he was seen by a medical examiner, provided medication, and returned to where ICE was holding him. On September 21, he was referred to the Victor Valley Global Medical Center, where he was scheduled for surgery on an abscess. Ayala-Uribe suffered from hypertension and had an increased heart rate, according to the report. Ayala-Uribe was pronounced deceased at 2:32 a.m. on September 22 by medical staff. The press release states that the cause of death is still under investigation.
The death of Ayala-Uribe marks the 16th death in detention centers since January of this year, bringing the total number of deaths linked to immigration enforcement up to at least 19. According to reporting by NPR, Senators Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock say that the number of deaths in immigration detention centers is the highest rate in the first six months of any year for which data is available.
"This includes the death of a Santos Reyes-Banegas in NY last Thursday, the death of Oscar Rascon Duarte, a 56-year-old Mexican national, who died in Mesa, Arizona, the week before, Jaime Garcia and Roberto Carlos Montoya Valdez who both died running from ICE, and Silvero Villegas-Gonzalez who was shot and killed by an ICE agent during an attempted stop in Chicago this month.
The press release states that ICE posts news releases with relevant details within two business days in line with agency policy. Despite this, L.A. TACO found that the official ICE detainee death list has not been updated in a month. As of the publishing of this article, there’s no mention of Reyes-Benegas, Duarte, or Ayala-Uribe on their death list, which only shows 15 total deaths up to August 31st, 2025. This coincides with ICE’s latest policy to “scratch paperwork” in other areas of their operations.
Oscar Rascon Duarte was being held at Eloy Detention Center and passed away in ICE custody on September 8th. The press release on Duarte's death was dated September 15th, but it was not published until seven days later. Serawit Gezahegn Dejene passed away in ICE custody on January 29, and his press release is dated February 7. Duarte's name has yet to be added to the ICE detainee death list at the time of this publication.
In June, several congressional representatives, including Congresswoman Judy Chu and Congresswoman Kamlager-Dove, entered the Adelanto ICE Processing Center for a federally protected oversight review. At the time, the population of detainees had surged from 300 individuals in May to 1,100 detainees.
“What we witnessed confirmed our worst fears. Detainees were forced to wear the same clothes for ten days. Individuals lacking access to drinking water and medical care. Meals every fourteen hours. We will not stop fighting until every constitutional right is upheld and every abuse is brought to light, ”said Rep. Kamlager-Dove, following her visit to the detention facility in June.
In July, another group of lawmakers requested to enter the facility, filing a courtesy 72-hour notice for a Congressional oversight visit, which does not require any advance notification. Upon arrival, ICE turned them away, attributing a new requirement for a seven-day advance notice. Only Congressman Jay Obernolte, a Republican, was allowed entry into the facility. ICE said that he provided a seven-day advance notice.
“It’s clear to me that this facility is doing its job: ensuring that detainees are treated humanely—with access to medical care, legal representation, and timely hearings—while helping ICE carry out its mission to enforce our immigration laws,” Obernolte said in a statement on X.
