Mexican man’s death in Adelanto ICE facility is fifth incident since September

A Mexican man died while being detained at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center last week. He is the fifth person to have died either while in custody at the facility or from health complications linked to its conditions since September 2025.

Department of Homeland Security officials said in a statement that guards found Jose Guadalupe Ramos-Solano unconscious in his bunk bed March 25. Onsite medical staff performed CPR, according to the statement, and Ramos was taken to a medical center in Victorville where he was pronounced dead at 9:30 p.m.

According to DHS, Ramos was arrested in 2025 in Los Angeles county for possession of a controlled substance and theft of personal property and was convicted later that year. Federal Immigration and Custom Enforcement agents arrested Ramos on Feb. 23 during an operation in Torrance and transferred him to Adelanto.

Ramos also received a complete health and physical evaluation during his intake screening at the Adelanto facility on Feb. 24, which identified that he had several medical issues including diabetes and hypertension.

“He received constant medical care while he was in custody, including daily medication to treat his illness,” reads the DHS statement.

DHS said staff immediately initiated life-saving procedures when he was found unresponsive and emphasized their “commitment to ensuring safe, secure, and humane environments” for people in detention.

But according to the Immigrant Defenders Law Center, detainees who called their rapid response hotline the morning after Ramos’ death said that guards didn’t respond until he was unconscious. According to ImmDef, detainees also witnessed Ramos having trouble breathing and witnessed him removing his shirt because he felt he was suffocating.

For years, immigrant and disability rights groups have raised alarms about the conditions inside the Adelanto ICE Processing Center. Ismael Ayala-Uribe died after being held at Adelanto for about a month last year. A few weeks later, Gabriel Garcia Aviles died from cardiac arrest just one week after being transferred to the Adelanto facility. Alberto Gutierrez Reyes and Irvin Cruz Nape both died after being detained there earlier this year.

Hector Pereyra, the political manager with the Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice (IC4IJ), said DHS and ICE are depriving people of basic needs.

“What we’re seeing is that people die in immigration detention centers like Adelanto because of the lack of access to medical care,” said Pereyra. “And that’s intentional. The Department of Homeland Security has all the resources in the world to fully fund efficient and comprehensive medical care. And they choose not to.”

Earlier this month, Attorney General Rob Bonta weighed in on a lawsuit against ICE that challenges living and medical conditions at the facility. The ongoing lawsuit seeks to improve these conditions for detainees.

Officials with the Mexican Consulate of Los Angeles said at a Monday press conference that their government is also planning to contribute to the lawsuit and “will exhaust all legal, diplomatic, and multilateral avenues” to ensure accountability.

“We consider it crucial to bring light to this painful reality — individuals who have lost their lives while under the direct custody of immigration authorities and GEO Group,” said Vanessa Calva-Ruiz, a Mexican diplomatic representative. “Nothing justifies immigration processing and detention conditions that result in the deaths of individuals who should have been treated promptly with dignity and humanity.”