The papers fluttered in Sergio Ojeda’s hand as he read from a letter written by the dead man’s daughter.
“We miss you so much, my old man,” Ojeda said aloud – first in Spanish, then in English. “Thank you, Dad, for never leaving us alone. Thank you for being such a loving grandfather.”
It was a warm Saturday morning this past weekend in Calexico. Ojeda, an organizer with the Imperial Valley Equity and Justice Coalition, stood before a small crowd on a dusty street. Across the road sat a dull yellow building: the Imperial Regional Detention Facility.
The man, a Honduran immigrant named Luis Beltrán Yañez-Cruz, was one of at least two people who died while being held at the Imperial County detention center since September, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
In the first days of January, Yañez-Cruz died after he complained of heartburn and was taken to a medical facility in Indio. In September, a Chinese immigrant named Huabing Xie had a seizure and died at a hospital in El Centro.
In follow-up reports this month, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement investigators said Yañez-Cruz and Xie both appeared to suffer sudden heart complications.
Last weekend, several Imperial Valley immigrants’ rights groups gathered outside the detention center to hold a late-morning vigil for Yañez-Cruz and Xie. They spread flowers on a table across the street, recited prayers and sang mariachi.
The letter Ojeda read was from Yañez-Cruz’s daughter, Josselyn. It said Yañez-Cruz was a joyful man who was always there for his children and grandchildren. His friends, the letter added, had been asking about him too — a sign of the mark he left on the lives of people around him.
“I have two daughters, and I just couldn't get myself out of just relating to the feeling that she was feeling,” Ojeda told KPBS later. “It was very humbling.”
Advocates said they have been unable to reach Xie’s friends or family.
Medical expert says U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement reports raise questions
Earlier this month, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement released their Congressionally-mandated reports on the events that led up to both in-custody deaths. In Xie’s case, the agency’s report came after weeks of delay.
But those reports raise far more questions than they provide answers, according to Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association.
Benjamin previously served as Maryland’s Secretary of Health and spent 20 years practicing emergency medicine. He reviewed ICE’s reports on Yañez-Cruz and Xie’s death at KPBS’ request.
The documents, Benjamin said, only record basic details, like that both men had high blood pressure at one point and experienced some kind of cardiovascular event. But he said they don’t include any detailed medical information.
“You don't have any sense of what their real clinical status was at all,” Benjamin said.
The two in-custody deaths tied to the Imperial County detention facility are part of a nationwide pattern. The number of immigrants dying in federal custody is spiking nationwide amid the Trump administration’s sweeping mass deportation campaign.
Despite President Donald Trump’s promises to only target the “worst of the worst,” federal data also show immigration officials are mostly arresting people without any criminal history in Imperial County and San Diego.
Neither Yañez-Cruz or Xie appear to have a criminal record.
The reports do raise urgent questions about the detention center’s medical staffing and hiring standards, Benjamin said, along with their protocols for responding to certain symptoms.
In Yañez-Cruz’s case, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement investigators said in addition to heartburn, the 63-year-old had high blood pressure. Those symptoms in an older person should have triggered a higher-level of medical assessment, Benjamin said.
“Chest pain in an older person is a real red flag,” Benjamin said.
He said the agency’s report didn’t have enough information for him to assess the quality of their response.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement contractor says it won’t release more information
On Tuesday, the private prison company that runs the Imperial Regional Detention Facility on behalf of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said it did not plan to release additional medical details.
In an email to KPBS, a spokesperson for Management & Training Corporation (MTC) said that decision was out of “respect for privacy requirements and the integrity of ongoing reviews.”
“We would like to extend our condolences to the families and loved ones affected,” wrote Emily Lawhead, MTC’s communications director. “Any loss of life is serious, and we recognize the responsibility that comes with operating a facility entrusted with the care and safety of individuals in federal custody.”
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not respond to a request for comment.
Holding immigrants for the federal government has become a major revenue source for MTC and other private prison companies. In 2022, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement told Congress that the agency paid MTC $155.65 per day for each detained person at the Imperial County detention center. The facility is designed to hold around 780 people.
At the same time, the detention center has repeatedly failed to provide adequate medical care in recent years, according to state and federal inspectors. In 2020, federal inspectors found the medical team was short-staffed and staff were checking the health of detainees at night while they were sleeping, without actually speaking to them.
The Imperial Regional Detention Facility’s medical team is now almost fully-staffed, with one part-time role currently unfilled. Lawhead said.
Lawhead also said staff treat reports of chest pain “with urgency.” Licensed medical staff do an immediate clinical assessment and evaluate vital signs, she said. If the team decides a person needs emergency medical care, she said they are taken to a hospital “without delay.”
Lawhead added that the company does their own internal reviews after any serious medical incident but declined to share details about that process.
Benjamin said he thinks the public should be calling for full, transparent investigations into each in-custody death.
“Our tax dollars are paying for this,” he said. “And these are our neighbors. These are people who have been in our communities, in many cases for years.”
Advocates continue to press county officials for inspection
Immigrants’ rights groups in Imperial County have been pushing for local officials to take on more oversight of the detention center. In October after Xie’s death, they asked county public health officials to use the county’s state-granted power to inspect the facility.
County officials elsewhere in California have begun to invoke that power. Just last week, two San Diego County supervisors attempted to inspect the Otay Mesa Detention Center. They were turned away, along with U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla.
Last week, U.S. Rep. Raul Ruiz (D-Palm Desert) did say he conducted an oversight visit of the Imperial Regional Detention Facility, although his office shared few details about what he saw.
So far, advocates said Imperial County officials have not attempted similar action.
In Calexico on Saturday, the groups prayed for a shift in approach from the federal government.
“We pray for just and compassionate treatment for immigrants to our nation,” said Michele Vakili with Catholic Charities Diocese of San Diego. “Guide the U.S. leaders to create legal policies that reflect love for humanity, policies that respect people and inspire humane solutions to immigration problems.”
At the end of Saturday’s vigil, Ojeda with the Imperial Valley Equity and Justice Coalition invited a local mariachi group to perform in hopes of reaching detainees inside with music.
A quartet of four musicians, dressed in crisp white suits, turned to face the detention center’s walls and began to play. The sound of a violin, a trumpet, a vihuela and a deep bass guitarrón filled the air.
Ojeda held the microphone for the musicians in an outstretched hand as he used the other to wipe the tears from his eyes.
