The family of Ismael Ayala, a 39-year-old immigrant who died earlier this month while in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, is planning to take legal action.
An attorney for the family said they are planning to file a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security, GEO Group and the Adelanto Detention Facility.
“A pre-trial detainee has a right to be free,” attorney Jesus Arias said. “He has a right to respond and go to court, of course, but that doesn’t mean you have to die.”
Ayala was a Mexican immigrant who came to the United States as a child. He received protection under DACA in 2012, but renewal was denied after two DUI arrests.
In August, ICE agents detained him at the Huntington Beach car wash where he worked.
“They took him while he was working,” his father, Eusebio Ayala, recalled in an interview last week. “He opened the door in the mornings because the boss hadn’t arrived yet.”
In custody, his mother said his health began to fail, which she noticed during her first visit.
“He already looked bad. His face had thinned, he was pale. He told me, ‘Mom, I can’t stand it anymore.’ I told him to ask the guards for help, but he said they wouldn’t listen,” she said.
According to ICE, Ayala was examined by on-site medical staff on Sept. 18 after complaining of pain. He was given medication and returned to his cell.
But his family says two days later, his condition worsened. He was taken to Victor Valley Global Medical Center and scheduled for surgery on an abscess. He lost consciousness and died at the hospital.
“He’s another victim of a policy that doesn’t make any difference between detaining criminals, and just randomly arresting people on the street that look like me, or him, or you,” Arias said.
“This is cruel, and we have to not only speak about it, we have to use the law.”
