Saturday, November 22, 2025

Pasadena Rep. Judy Chu Leads Call for ICE Accountability After Detainee Deaths

Congresswoman Judy Chu, D?Pasadena, joined Rep. Dave Min, D?Irvine, in spearheading a congressional letter Friday demanding answers from Homeland Security officials about medical care for immigrants in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody, following the death of a Costa Mesa man while detained at the agency’s Adelanto processing center.

The letter, signed by 43 other members of Congress including Southland representatives Robert Garcia, Maxine Waters, Lou Correa and Mike Levin, cited the Oct. 23 death of 56?year?old Gabriel Garcia?Aviles. Lawmakers said his death came just a month after another detainee, Ismael Ayala?Uribe, died Sept. 22 at Adelanto after reportedly being denied medical treatment.

“These deaths raise serious questions about ICE’s ability to comply with basic detention standards, medical care protocols, and notification requirements, and underscore a pattern of gross negligence that demands immediate accountability,” the letter stated.

ICE officials, in a Nov. 3 statement, said Garcia?Aviles was arrested Oct. 15 and admitted the same day to Victory Valley Global Medical Center in Victorville after showing suspected alcohol withdrawal symptoms. The agency said he never spent the night at Adelanto. According to ICE, Garcia?Aviles’ family requested medical staff discontinue resuscitation efforts the evening of Oct. 23, and hospital officials “attributed the death to cardiac arrest due to alcohol withdrawals,” ICE alleged. The agency also claimed Garcia?Aviles told medical staff he consumed about two pints of liquor daily.

ICE further alleged Garcia?Aviles had made multiple illegal entries into the country in 2007 and 2008 and that Costa Mesa police had arrested him “multiple times between 2021 and 2025” on suspicion of disorderly conduct and false identification to police.

Chu, Min and other representatives argued in their letter that ICE “appears to have repeatedly failed to comply with internal standards,” contributing to deaths in custody. They cited a decade of alleged delays in medical care, substandard treatment, and falsified records. The lawmakers said Garcia?Aviles had lived in the United States for more than 30 years and that his family was only informed of his condition when he was on his deathbed. His daughter found he was “unconscious, intubated, and” he had “dried blood on his forehead.”

The letter also referenced detainee deaths in Florida and Texas and demanded details on medical care and steps being taken to improve it. Lawmakers noted ICE has reported 25 detainee deaths since Jan. 23, 2025, with 15 official Detainee Death Reports issued. “To put that figure into perspective, ICE has recorded almost 64% as many in?custody deaths in just the first nine months of President Trump’s second term as occurred during his entire first term, when 36 detainees died in custody,” the letter reads. They added the number exceeds every year on record since reporting began in 2018, including Fiscal Year 2020, when deaths spiked during the COVID?19 pandemic.