Detainee at Otay Mesa Detention Center is 29th to die in ICE custody this year
A detainee died Saturday at the Otay Mesa Detention Center, marking at least the 29th reported death in ICE custody so far this year, after a record 33 deaths in 2025.
At around 11:36 a.m., a staff member at the facility found the person, later identified as 43-year-old Roberto Jimenez Gutierrez, unresponsive in their assigned living area, according to a statement from CoreCivic, the private prison company that runs the detention center.
Medical staff attempted lifesaving measures and called for emergency medical services, CoreCivic said. EMS arrived and continued those efforts, but the person was pronounced dead before being transported from the facility, according to CoreCivic.
“We are deeply saddened by the loss of anyone in our care,” CoreCivic’s statement continued, adding that ICE was notified immediately.
ICE and the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to request for comment, however later revealed Gutierrez’s identity and criminal history.
Gutierrez’s death is under investigation, according to a statement from ICE. An autopsy will be conducted to determine the official cause and manner of death.
The San Diego County Medical Examiner’s office did not have further details as of Tuesday morning. The Mexican Consulate in San Diego said the person who died was not a Mexican national. The same ICE statement said Gutierrez was from Guatemala.
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This marks at least the 29th death in ICE custody that the agency has reported, though earlier this year ICE shifted away from reporting deaths of newly released detainees.
The death also comes after months of complaints from people held at the Otay Mesa Detention Center of insufficient medical care, bad food, cold temperatures and more. A report earlier this year from the California Department of Justice found overcrowding, as well as limited access to water and medical care, and other conditions the state attorney general called “substandard” and “subhuman.”
Complaints from detainees also sparked multiple attempts at oversight visits by members of Congress, as well as a health inspection by San Diego County officials.
Two County supervisors were denied access for that inspection earlier this year, then sued ICE and CoreCivic in federal court, with a judge ordering the facility to allow that inspection. The county’s report found conditions “generally within state standards” but identified some issues, including two cases of tuberculosis the facility did not communicate according to health protocol.
In the midst of the county’s lawsuit, the Department of Homeland Security announced ICE had purchased the Otay Mesa Detention Center from CoreCivic outright, making it federal property and raising questions about access by state and local agencies for future inspections.
“Those findings were a warning, and this family deserves to know whether anyone listened,” San Diego County Supervisor Paloma Aguirre said in a statement on the death Monday evening.
“ICE and CoreCivic need to reach this family without delay, cooperate fully with a thorough investigation, and share what they find with the family and the public,” Aguirre continued. “Our inspection raised serious concerns. ICE and CoreCivic must answer for them and fix them, so no other family has to wait for answers the way this one is waiting now.”
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