Arrested healthy, deported a 'vegetable': Family of illegal immigrant accuses ICE of inhumane treatment of detainees

Costa Rican citizen Randall Alberto Gamboa Esquivel, arrested by U.S. immigration officials in February, became gravely ill in custody and was deported in September while unconscious. He died shortly thereafter, and his relatives accuse U.S. authorities of neglect and abuse, writes The Guardian.

A spokesman for the Donald Trump administration, which has been pushing for maximum deportations since the start of his second term in January, said the medical care Randall Alberto Gamboa Esquivel received before his death was "better than many immigrants receive in their entire lives."

Tricia McLaughlin, Assistant Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), reported that Gamboa "illegally entered the United States, a felony, in December 2024." According to Gamboa's family, as reported by the Spanish-language newspaper El País, he traveled to the United States in search of work. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested him in Texas in February.

On the subject: Deportation from the US: A Complete Guide to Protecting Your Rights and Challenging Decisions from an Immigration Lawyer

Gamboa, 52, was initially held at the Webb County Detention Center and later transferred to another facility in Port Aizabel. His family told El País that he called them daily until he suddenly disappeared without explanation in June.

"Later, someone at the center said he had health issues and wasn't answering his calls," said Gamboa's sister, Grady Mata. "But they didn't give us any further information."

According to McLaughlin, "doctors diagnosed Gamboa with psychosis and admitted him to Valley Baptist Hospital to receive appropriate psychiatric and medical care."

The Gamboa family claims they were unable to locate him until August: during that time, they were deceived by two lawyers, and only a third helped locate Randall. By that time, he was already unconscious in bed, and the family's lawyer began proceedings to have him returned to Costa Rica.

On September 3, an ICE-funded ambulance transported Gamboa to Costa Rica, El País reported. He suffered from encephalopathy, a muscle disorder (rhabdomyolysis), and was unable to feed himself. Randall was first taken to the emergency room in San José and then transferred to a hospital in his hometown of Pérez Celedon, where he died on October 26.

Since then, his family has been trying to get the Costa Rican government to demand an explanation from the United States. However, according to relatives, Costa Rican authorities seem reluctant to intervene and are limiting themselves to "the most perfunctory actions."

In a video taken outside Gamboa's funeral and shown on Univision, his common-law wife, Adriana Ureña, said: "The medical care Randall received in the United States... was, in my opinion, terrible."

One of the Costa Rican politicians who supported the Gamboa family was the country's former president and 1987 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Oscar Arias.

"Randall Gamboa entered the United States illegally, but in perfect physical condition," Arias wrote on the social media site X. Condemning the "silent complicity" of Costa Rica and the United States, he noted, "Randall's family has the right to know the truth and understand what happened to him while in the custody of U.S. immigration authorities."

The Trump administration revoked Arias's visa in April, which the former Costa Rican president said was due to his government's establishment of diplomatic relations with China in 2007. However, Arias emphasized that he spoke out on Gamboa's case because he could not remain silent while "a Costa Rican citizen—a simple municipal worker from Pérez Zeledón—was deported in a helpless state."

"I will not remain silent when a person's life is at risk," he wrote.

The Trump administration initially stated that its immigration enforcement would primarily target violent offenders. However, government data released in September showed that the majority of immigrants in ICE custody had no criminal record.

McLaughlin's statement noted, among other things, that repeat illegal border crossing is a criminal offense. It also mentioned Gamboa's previous convictions for operating a commercial vehicle without a license and for fraud—non-violent offenses.

Trump also won the election after two New York state juries convicted him of felony financial fraud and civil fraud for inflating his wealth in reports to banks and insurance companies.

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"Under President Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, if you break the law, you will be punished," McLaughlin said in a statement. "Criminal, illegal immigrants are not welcome in the United States."

"The United States needs to understand that Randall was not a criminal," Grady Mata said outside the funeral. "He was loved, and he died among those who loved him."

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