Updated: 3:35 p.m. March 3
A Westlake resident died early Saturday while in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody at the Adelanto immigration detention facility, according to a GoFundMe page created for his family.
Alberto Gutierrez Reyes was detained by ICE on Jan. 9 in Echo Park, according to the fundraiser. He became seriously ill while in custody and repeatedly requested medical attention, the organizer said.
“Despite his repeated requests for medical attention, he was denied the care he desperately needed. Tragically, Alberto passed away at 1 am today, leaving his wife and young son facing an unimaginable loss,” fundraiser organizer Karina Cruz said.
Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez said in a statement on Instagram this is the “9th known death in ICE custody this year.”
Hernandez criticized federal immigration authorities and the Trump administration in her statement and said the immigration detention system “cannot be reformed” and “must be abolished.”
“The Trump administration does not value human life. They are using our federal tax dollars to bankroll detention and a deadly deportation machine instead of funding healthcare, food, housing, education, and the systems that actually keep people alive,” she said.
The fundraiser describes Gutierrez Reyes as the family’s sole provider and says his death has left his wife and son facing both emotional and financial hardship. Donations will help cover funeral expenses and support the family.
Patricia Martinez, Gutierrez Reyes’ wife, told Univision that a representative for the Mexican Consulate called her Friday morning to say her husband was dead. Authorities did not say how her husband died or where his body was being held.
“We haven’t seen his body, we haven’t seen anything,” Martinez told the news station at a memorial over the weekend.
It was not immediately clear what medical treatment Gutierrez Reyes requested or what preexisting health conditions he had while in custody. A spokesperson for ICE could not be reached for comment.
A representative for The GEO Group, the private prison operators who oversee the Adelanto facility, directed all questions to ICE.
In January, a group of Adelanto detainees sued the federal government on behalf of anyone denied basic medical care in the facility. A man suffering a seizure went without oxygen as guards watched him convulse on the floor, and another was not given antibiotics for a severe staph infection that led his finger to burst, according to the proposed class action lawsuit.
The complaint says the for-profit detention center operated by GEO Group has a long history of unsafe and abusive conditions. The facility’s population spiked from just a handful of detainees to nearly 2,000 in a matter of months after federal immigration raids resumed last year.