Undocumented Immigrant Still Missing After ICE Arrest as Family Urgently Searches for Answers
This migrant has been missing after ICE arrest, weeks after being detained and suffering a medical crisis while awaiting deportation.
Vicente Ventura Aguilar, an undocumented Mexican immigrant, was detained by federal immigration agents on a street corner in South Los Angeles, according to witnesses to the arrest. A day later, while in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), he suffered a medical emergency: he lost consciousness and collapsed to the ground with tremors in his limbs, according to a man who claims he was detained with him.
Since then, Ventura has been missing.
More than six weeks have passed.
ICE told his family that he is no longer in their custody, and his loved ones and lawyers have been unable to locate or contact him. They have searched hospitals and morgues and have requested assistance in tracking him down in Mexico. They have even filed a missing person report with the Los Angeles Police Department.
“The whole family is worried, especially our mother in Mexico,” says Felipe, Ventura’s brother. “We fear he’s dead,” she added.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) stated that no one by the name of Ventura was in its custody that day.
Seventy-three people from Mexico were arrested in the Los Angeles area “between October 7 and 8,” said Tricia McLaughlin, a DHS spokesperson, in a statement to MS NOW, a sister station of Telemundo News. “None of them were Ventura Aguilar,” she emphasized.
The family and lawyers stated that it is possible Ventura gave authorities a different name when he was arrested, which would explain why he has not appeared in the ICE system. In their opinion, ICE and Customs and Border Protection, which may have had him in custody, should make a greater effort to find him.
“They should search a simple query by name and date of birth,” said Laura Urias, the family’s attorney. For example, authorities could search for him using his photograph or other biometric data, Urias suggested.
