WESTMINSTER, CALIFORNIA – OCTOBER 09: Lucia (2nd L) and Eusebio Ayala (L) stand near their son Ismael Ayala-Uribe’s casket during his burial service on October 9, 2025 in Westminster, California. Ayala-Uribe, 39, who was originally from Mexico, died on September 22nd while in ICE custody. His family said the former DACA recipient had lived in the U.S. since he was about 4 years old and that he was in detention for about a month before his health began to rapidly deteriorate. He was the 14th person to die this year while in federal immigration custody. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
The parents of an Orange County man who died of sepsis in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody is suing the operator and medical provider of a Mojave Desert detention center that houses detainees facing possible deportation.
Ismael Ayala-Uribe, 39, of Westminster died on Sept. 22 at Victor Valley Global Medical Center in Victorville, a day after he was transferred there from the Adelanto ICE Processing Center and 37 days in custody. He had complained for weeks of pain in his abdominal and buttocks areas and treated with pain medication, according to the lawsuit filed on Dec. 31 in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles.
The lawsuit names as defendants The GEO Group, the private operator of the Adelanto facility, and Wellpath LLC, a private company that provides medical care to detainees there. It alleges wrongful death, deliberate indifference to medical needs, unconstitutional conditions of confinement and negligence.
Federal agents arrested Uribe, a Mexican citizen, on Aug. 17 at a car wash where he worked in Fountain Valley and detained him at the Adelanto facility, where he allegedly fell ill, according to the lawsuit.
According to an ICE detainee death report, Ayala-Uribe was convicted on Sept. 23, 2015, in Orange County Superior Court of driving under the influence and sentenced to three years probation. He was convicted of a second DUI offense in the same court on June 12, 2019. He was sentenced to 120 days in jail and five years probation.
Ayala-Uribe was approved for DACA protection in 2012, but his request to renew that protection was denied in 2016.
Family and friends said Ayala-Uribe worked at the Fountain Valley Auto Wash for nearly 15 years. Manager Khosro Habibi told the Southern California News Group in September that Ayala-Uribe knew and loved the customers, many of who specifically asked for him when they patronized the business.
Jesus Eduardo Arias, the attorney representing Uribe’s parents in the lawsuit, did not respond to a request for comment.
For at least several weeks prior to his death, the lawsuit states, Ayala-Uribe experienced “intense and progressive physical pain, including abdominal pain, severe buttock pain, persistent fever, chills, extreme weakness, and continuous intestinal internal pain related to internal bleeding,” yet his multiple requests for medical attention were ignored.
On Sept. 18, Uribe submitted a written request for medical assistance. He was evaluated by on-call medical providers employed by The GEO Group, and, following a “cursory assessment,” was returned to his cell with only over-the-counter pain pills and without a reasonable diagnostic evaluation, the lawsuit states.
“His symptoms had been worsening and he remained sick for weeks with deliberate indifference,” according to the lawsuit. “He kept over and over asking for help, being deliberately ignored by the Defendants.”
On Sept. 21, Ayala-Uribe again sought medical care, saying he “felt very bad” and had been in pain for more than two weeks. He was taken to a hospital, where he arrived hypertensive, with a rapid heart rate and other life-threatening signs, the lawsuit states.
Ayala-Uribe was pronounced dead at about 2:32 a.m. on Sept. 22. The lawsuit alleges he died from a serious infection that progressed to sepsis after he failed to receive proper medical treatment at any point during his detention.
According to ICE’s death report, Ayala-Uribe denied having any chronic health conditions or using any medications during his intake screening, and his medical exam and vitals were normal, with the exception of having elevated blood pressure. The intake nurse cleared him for placement in the facility’s general population.
On Sept. 18, Ayala-Uribe reported severe pain and abnormal vitals at the detention center. Despite prescribed treatment and wellness checks, by Sept. 21 he showed worsening symptoms — including sweating, nausea, elevated glucose and an irregular ECG — leading to his hospital transfer, the report states.
The Adelanto ICE Processing Center, according to the lawsuit, has been widely cited as among the nation’s deadliest, with the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general and human rights groups documenting inadequate medical care, delayed emergency responses and systemic neglect.
Southern California activists rallied outside Adelanto City Hall on Dec. 18, International Migrants Day, to draw attention to conditions inside the Adelanto ICE Processing Center, one of California’s largest ICE detention centers.
Uribe was the 15th person to die in ICE custody in 2025, marking a more than 66% increase since 2021 and continuing a rising trend. ICE in-custody deaths numbered five in 2021, three in 2022, seven in 2023, and 11 in 2024.
Officials at The GEO Group and Wellpath did not respond to requests for comment Friday.
Originally published at Joe Nelson