Guatemalan Detainee, 43, Dies at Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego: County Supervisors Demand Cooperation With Coroner Probe
SAN DIEGO, San Diego County, California — US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) reported on October 27 that a detainee died on October 24 at the Otay Mesa Detention Center. The man, Roberto Jimenez Gutierrez, 43, was a Guatemalan national; the center is operated by CoreCivic.
According to ICE, staff found him unresponsive in his assigned safety cell at 11:31 a.m. on October 24; medical staff began CPR at 11:38 a.m.; California fire and EMS personnel arrived at 11:52 a.m.; and he was pronounced dead at 12:23 p.m. ICE said he had been taken into custody in Escondido on October 9. The San Diego County medical examiner performed an autopsy on October 26; toxicology results are pending, the cause of death has not been determined, and ICE says an investigation is ongoing. County Supervisors Lawson-Remer and Aguirre on October 27 demanded that federal authorities and CoreCivic fully cooperate with the county medical examiner's investigation and preserve relevant records. ICE said the man's family and the Guatemalan consulate were notified.
Daylight San Diego noted two inconsistencies in ICE's account: first, ICE said an immigration judge ordered the man removed to Mexico in 2006, although he was Guatemalan, and ICE offered no explanation; second, ICE listed a July 2024 conviction for selling alcohol to a minor and several arrests, but Daylight found no record of the man in San Diego County court records, and ICE did not say where the conviction or arrests occurred. An arrest record is not a conviction, and GSM does not prejudge the cause of death.
Related:
ICE Reports Death of Salvadoran Detainee at Folkston Processing Center in Georgia
Source: GSM · USA
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：奥泰梅萨拘留中心入口与建筑本景（运营方 CoreCivic 官网设施页官方发布图）。Otay Mesa Detention Center entrance and main building (official photo from operator CoreCivic facility page).
