A 39-year-old Westminster man died while in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Monday, Sept. 22, after being detained for nearly a month inside the Adelanto ICE Processing Center, according to federal authorities. His death left family members devastated and an attorney charging the man didn’t get the medical help he was seeking.
Ismael Ayala-Uribe was arrested by ICE on Aug. 17 during a raid at an Orange County car wash, according to 4 Los Angeles, and transferred to the detention center on Aug. 22 for immigration proceedings, according to an ICE press release. The center is northwest of Victorville.
On Sept. 21, he was referred to the Victor Valley Global Medical Center to evaluate an abscess on his buttocks and scheduled for surgery. ICE said Ayala-Uribe was also experiencing hypertension and tachycardia, a fast heart rate.
The next morning, at 1:48 a.m., the hospital declared him unresponsive and staffers initiated lifesaving measures. Less than an hour later, Ayala-Uribe was declared dead.
Police knocked on the family’s door and told them Ayala-Uribe died at a hospital Monday morning, but his loved ones didn’t know that he had been hospitalized, his brother Jose Ayala said Wednesday.
“I was in shock,” he said. “I was wondering how is it possible? Why didn’t we get informed of anything? I was devastated. My parents were devastated. The whole family, when they found out, was devastated.”
Ayala-Uribe’s mother visited every week at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center and saw her son’s health decline, Ayala said.
When he was first detained, family said that Ayala-Uribe was healthy, but he developed a cough while in custody that worsened to fevers, Ayala said.
Ayala-Uribe told family that he had asked for medical attention, but said his requests weren’t taken seriously. He told his family that he was in pain that he couldn’t stand before he was hospitalized, Ayala said.
The cause of Ayala-Uribe’s death is under investigation, ICE said.
“ICE remains committed to ensuring that all those in its custody reside in safe, secure and humane environments,” ICE said. “Comprehensive medical care is provided from the moment individuals arrive and throughout the entirety of their stay.”
Ayala-Uribe is at least the 14th person to die in ICE custody this year, according to ICE’s Detainee Death Reporting site.
“It’s pretty clear Ismael was asking for help. For more than two weeks, he never got it,” said Jesus Arias, a civil rights attorney representing the family. “As a result, he’s now dead.”
Ayala last saw his brother the night before he was detained. The brothers took their niece for a walk and laughed as Ayala-Uribe slipped and fell toward the end of their stroll.
He talked with his brother a few times on the phone while he was in Adelanto, mostly about how he wanted to leave the facility.
“We were hoping for the best, to get him out soon,” Ayala said, “but we were not able to do that.”
Shuntele Andrews visited Fountain Valley Car Wash, where Ayala-Uribe worked for nearly 15 years, after learning of his death. She stood in the spot where he would greet her with a smile twice a month when she brought her cars in to be cleaned. She and other customers went to the business after learning of Ayala-Uribe’s death, some crying as they asked staff what happened, the car wash’s manager told Ayala.
“Had I been here (the day Ayala-Uribe was detained) I probably wouldn’t be standing here,” she said, “because I probably would’ve done everything that I could to help him, and now what I’m seeing is that they’re trying to criminalize him.”
Ayala-Uribe knew and loved the car wash’s customers, and they asked for him when he wasn’t working, said manager Khosro Habibi. He was patient with customers and went beyond his job description, looking at and fixing their cars for free when he could, Habibi said.
“Everybody in here is missing him,” Habibi said. “He was a big part of this business. He was a main part of the business. He was the most important person in this business. He was a piece of art, he knew everything.”
Ayala-Uribe grew up in Westminster after being brought to the U.S. from Mexico when he was 4. Ayala, his younger brother by nine years, remembers his brother teaching him to swim and play soccer.
In 2012, Ayala-Uribe applied for and became a Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipient, ICE said. Three years later he was convicted of a DUI in Orange County, and sentenced to three years of probation, ICE said.
In 2016, when he re-applied for DACA, his application was denied. He was convicted of his second DUI in Orange County, and sentenced to four months in jail plus five years of probation, ICE said.
Mexico’s Foreign Relations Department offered its condolences to the Ayala-Uribe’s family and said the Mexican Consulate in San Bernardino would follow up with authorities at the immigration detention center to ensure a thorough investigation will “fully clarify” the cause of the death. Mexican officials are in contact with the family to offer legal assistance and other help.
The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department said Wednesday, Sept. 24, it is increasing its patrols around the Adelanto ICE facility due to an unrelated event in Texas where a gunman targeted a Dallas ICE field office that left one detainee dead and two in critical condition.
GEO Group, the private prison company that owns and manages the Adelanto ICE facility, responded to a request for comment and questions by referring the Southern California News Group to ICE and its press release.
ICE and the Department of Homeland Security, its parent organization, did not respond to requests for more information about Ayala-Uribe.
The Associated Press and Staff Photographer Jeff Gritchen contributed to this report.