By Ted Hesson
WASHINGTON, March 30 (Reuters) – A Mexican immigrant died in U.S. immigration custody in Los Angeles on March 25, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said on Monday, marking at least 14 deaths in ICE custody in 2026 and prompting criticism from the Mexican government.
Jose Guadalupe Ramos was found unconscious and unresponsive in his bunk by security staff at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center, ICE said in a press release. The staff called on-site medical personnel and he was transferred to an area hospital where he was declared dead, ICE said.
U.S. President Donald Trump launched a mass deportation effort after taking office in 2025, pledging to detain and deport millions of immigrants living in the U.S. illegally. The number of immigrants in ICE detention has reached record levels, with 68,000 locked up as of early February.
Opponents have criticized the detentions as overly punitive and potentially deadly. At least 31 people died in ICE detention in 2025, a two-decade high, and the current pace could eclipse that.
ICE said it arrested Ramos in Torrance, California, on February 23. He was convicted of possession of a controlled substance and theft of personal property in 2025, ICE said. ICE said an initial health screening when he was taken into custody showed diabetes, high cholesterol and hypertension.
Ramos’ death was the fourth of a detainee held at Adelanto since Trump took office. The other three were also Mexican men.
Mexico’s foreign ministry said it would file a legal brief in support of a lawsuit brought by detainees alleging poor conditions at the detention center, including inadequate medical care, unsanitary conditions and punitive use of isolation. The ministry will also raise the issue of immigration detainee deaths to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
During a press conference at the Mexican consulate in Los Angeles, Mexican diplomat Vanessa Calva Ruiz said the latest death was part of “an alarming, unacceptable trend” since Trump took office in 2025.
“These deaths reveal systemic failures, operational deficiencies and possible negligence,” she said.
A U.S. Department of Homeland Security spokesperson defended conditions in ICE detention and said that only a small number of detainees had died relative to the total population.
Bed space had rapidly expanded in detention centres and there was now a higher standard of care than most prisons that hold U.S. citizens, including access to proper medical care, the spokesperson said in a statement.
While ICE has not published official detention statistics in March, the number of people in custody dropped to about 60,000 as of last week, a source familiar with the matter said, requesting anonymity to share internal figures.
A Republican-backed spending bill passed in 2025 gave ICE a massive funding increase that allows the agency to detain more than 100,000 people at any given time.
(Reporting by Ted Hesson; Additional reporting by Kristina Cooke in San Francisco; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama, Rod Nickel, David Gregorio and Michael Perry)
