Detainee Found Unresponsive Dies at San Diego’s Otay Mesa ICE Facility
An immigrant detainee died Saturday at the Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego after staff found the person unresponsive and attempted emergency care.
On Saturday morning, employees at the Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego found an immigrant detainee unresponsive in their housing unit at about 11:36 a.m. Medical staff responded promptly, initiating emergency treatment and summoning emergency medical services, yet the person was declared dead at the facility. CoreCivic, the private prison operator, issued a statement confirming the death while withholding the detainee’s name and noting that Immigration and Customs Enforcement had been alerted.
The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately comment. San Diego County Supervisor Paloma Aguirre called on ICE and CoreCivic to promptly inform the family, conduct a comprehensive investigation, and publicly share the findings, also requesting the county public health officer to inspect the center under state law. This incident is the 61st death in ICE custody during the Trump administration and the seventh in California, underscoring concerns about rising detainee mortality as immigration detention numbers have surged. The most recent ICE death involved Luis Sandoval, a 48-year-old Salvadoran who died by apparent suicide in Georgia.
Why it matters
The death adds to a growing tally of ICE custody fatalities, raising questions about detainee safety and oversight of private prisons.
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