José Guadalupe Ramos, a Mexican national, dies in ICE detention in LA

A Mexican immigrant has died at a detention center outside Los Angeles, marking at least the 14th death in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody since the year began.Security staff at the Adelanto Detention Center found José Guadalupe Ramos unconscious and unresponsive in his bunk on 25 March, according to an ICE press release. Staff attempted to carry out life-saving procedures, including CPR, then called emergency services, who took Ramos to Victory Valley Global Medical Center in nearby Victorville. He was pronounced dead there at 9.29pm.At his medical screening on 24 February, ICE found that Ramos suffered from diabetes, hypertension and hyperlipidemia. He received “daily medication to treat his illness”, according to ICE.It was not clear whether he received medication for a single illness or all three. The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) did not immediately respond to a request for clarification.The number of immigrants in ICE detention has reached record levels since Donald Trump launched his sweeping mass deportation campaign last year and human rights groups and legal defenders have raised concerns for detainee safety.Thirty-two migrants died while locked in immigrant detention centers last year, marking the deadliest year in detention since 2004. The number of detainee deaths so far is already on pace to exceed last year’s.Claudia Sheinbaum, the Mexican president, said at a press conference on Monday that Mexico would protest about the deaths of Mexican nationals.“We’ll be taking several actions to protest the death of another Mexican, another countryman, in the United States,” Sheinbaum said. “Especially in that detention center in Los Angeles,” she added, referring to Adelanto, noting that several other Mexican migrants had died there since Trump took office.Diplomatic officials planned to raise their objections and human rights concerns to the Trump administration and members of the US Congress, according to the news outlet Milenio. They also plan to take their grievances to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.Ramos was the fourth Mexican national to die at Adelanto since last year.The Adelanto detention facility is run as a for-profit enterprise by GEO Group, ICE’s largest private contractor. A coalition of immigrant rights and legal defense groups filed a federal lawsuit against GEO Group earlier this year, alleging that the Adelanto facility subjected detainees to inhumane treatment, including medical neglect.Mexico will file an amicus brief in support of that lawsuit, the country’s foreign secretary said on Monday in a press release.The deaths at Adelanto are part of “an alarming, unacceptable trend” that started after Trump retook the US presidency, Vanessa Calva Ruiz, a Mexican diplomat, said in Los Angeles at a press conference, according to Reuters. “These deaths reveal systemic failures, operational deficiencies and possible negligence.”GEO Group said its support services were monitored by ICE and included round-the-clock medical care.“At locations where GEO provides healthcare services, individuals are provided with access to teams of medical professionals including physicians, nurses, dentists, psychologists and psychiatrists,” a GEO spokesperson wrote in an email. “Ready access to off-site medical specialists, imaging facilities, Emergency Medical Services, and local community hospitals is also provided when needed.”California’s attorney general, Rob Bonta, earlier this monthsaid a state review of conditions at Adelanto had flagged serious problems.“The inhumane and punitive conditions of confinement inside Adelanto Detention Center demand immediate attention and urgent action by the Trump administration,” Bonta said in a statement earlier this month, after filing a brief in the lawsuit against Adelanto. “During our inspections at Adelanto, my team witnessed shockingly inadequate medical care, a failure to accommodate people with disabilities, disturbingly unsafe and unsanitary conditions, and a lack of basic necessities. These vile conditions have exacerbated as a result of the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign.”The California review found “a facility that was overwhelmed with the rapid population increase; insufficient staffing; failures to attend to urgent medical needs, to care for individuals with chronic conditions, and to ensure specialty care referrals; and use of force concerns”, according to a court filing. Prior state reviews of the facility found that it kept incomplete health records, compromised patient confidentiality and provided inadequate care for chronic illnesses.The number of people locked in migrant detention stood at more than 68,000 as of February 2026.