--- title: "Coroner’s Report Contradicts ICE Account of a Detainee’s Death in California" description: "Ismael Ayala-Uribe, 39, went into cardiac arrest nearly a day before he died. ICE’s public report on his death left that out." author: "rews desk" published: 2026-10-15T18:57:08Z modified: 2026-10-16T04:29:06Z url: https://rews.cc/a/coroner-s-report-contradicts-ice-account-of-a-detainee-s-dea-8fd314 language: en tags: ["immigration", "health", "ice", "daca", "deportation", "us"] publisher: "Rews (https://rews.cc)" --- # Coroner’s Report Contradicts ICE Account of a Detainee’s Death in California *Ismael Ayala-Uribe, 39, went into cardiac arrest nearly a day before he died. ICE’s public report on his death left that out.* By rews desk · October 15, 2026 · https://rews.cc/a/coroner-s-report-contradicts-ice-account-of-a-detainee-s-dea-8fd314 ## In brief - A coroner’s file says Ismael Ayala-Uribe, 39, went into cardiac arrest early on Sept. 21, 2025, nearly a day before he died - ICE’s public report recorded only one cardiac arrest and called him ‘calm and cooperative’ on Sept. 21 - At Adelanto he was given pain medication, ointment and a fiber supplement for a fever and an abscess - An internal ICE review found his care ‘deviated beyond safe limits of practice’ - Fifty-three people died in ICE custody in President Trump’s first 500 days back in office, Al Jazeera reported A 39-year-old man who died in ICE custody in California last year went into cardiac arrest nearly a day before his death, according to a coroner’s investigation that Al Jazeera reported on Thursday. The man, Ismael Ayala-Uribe, had been held at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center. The coroner’s file, [obtained by Al Jazeera’s Fault Lines program](https://aljazeera.com/news/longform/2026/10/15/dying-in-ice-custody-inside-one-familys-story-of-heartbreak), also shows he was critically ill when he reached the hospital. ICE’s public report on the death mentions neither. It records his pulse stopping once, shortly before he was declared dead on the morning of Sept. 22, 2025, and describes him on Sept. 21 as “calm and cooperative.” The coroner’s account is different. His heart stopped early on Sept. 21, and hospital staff got it beating again after intubating him. Nicholas Cuneo, an immigrant health expert with the advocacy group Physicians for Human Rights, reviewed the case. “I believe Ismael’s death could have fully been prevented by timely care,” he said. “It was a simple abscess that was not treated in a timely manner.” ![A vintage-style stack of papers bears a red heartbeat line partly covered by a blank strip, with heavy black shadows on a beige background.](https://rews.cc/img/2c7d13b27583cf4eb8c36703ca85dbcb9f116eda.webp) Mr. Ayala-Uribe came to the United States from Mexico at 5 and grew up in Southern California. He qualified as an adult for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which shielded him from deportation, but lost that status in 2015 after a conviction for driving under the influence. He was arrested on Aug. 17, 2025, while working at a car wash and was [transferred to Adelanto on Aug. 22](https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/mexican-national-dies-in-ice-custody-adelanto/), CBS Los Angeles reported. About two weeks after he arrived, he told his family he had a high fever and a painful sore on his backside. On Sept. 18, Adelanto staff called a Code Blue, the alert for a life-threatening emergency, and took him by wheelchair from his dorm to the infirmary. ICE documents show he got pain medication, an ointment and a fiber supplement. Dr. Cuneo’s term for that? “A major failure.” He said Mr. Ayala-Uribe should have been examined and given antibiotics. ![A person slumps in a wheelchair in a dim hospital corridor, with pills in a paper cup and a tube on a foreground tray.](https://rews.cc/img/65a9d4b4bf06221c5b7cac70e852038bcfd9f30f.webp) Less than two hours after the alert, medical staff cleared him and sent him back to his dorm, according to a [letter from 31 members of Congress](https://chu.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/chu.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/-final-letter-to-dhs-and-ice-on-the-death-of-ismael-ayala-uribe-1.pdf) led by Representative Judy Chu of California. The lawmakers wrote that he wasn’t taken to a hospital until three days later, when he was scheduled for surgery to remove the abscess. Ms. Chu’s office [sent the letter in October 2025](https://chu.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/rep-chu-leads-31-members-demanding-accountability-following-death-39) to Kristi Noem, then the homeland security secretary, and Todd Lyons, ICE’s acting director. His mother, Lucia Uribe, visited him every Saturday. Hours after her last visit, his condition got worse. ICE records say that just after midnight on Sunday he was vomiting, shaking and sweating. He was later moved to an intensive care unit, where he went into cardiac arrest within minutes, the records say. “If they had given him the medical care and what he needed, maybe he would be here with us,” Ms. Uribe said. An internal ICE mortality review committee found that his care at Adelanto “deviated beyond safe limits of practice,” according to a document reported by American news outlets earlier this year. The review also suggests medical staff were slow to answer calls about his decline in the days before he died. A San Bernardino County coroner’s report attributed the death to complications from an abscess in the pelvic area. ![A woodcut-style skeletal hand reaches across a dark chasm toward a red service bell on a ledge in an eerie corridor.](https://rews.cc/img/022af11c54fa3e7f9da6063dca3ee0d5f88895ae.webp) In a statement about the death, ICE said detainees receive “comprehensive medical care” while in custody. Rob Bonta, California’s attorney general, told Fault Lines his office had found “the exact opposite” in its own inspections of the state’s detention centers, Adelanto among them. “If what the ICE spokesperson said was true, Mr Ayala-Uribe would be with us today,” Mr. Bonta said. His brother, Jose Miguel Ayala, said he looked after the family, their parents included. “He just had a big heart,” Mr. Ayala said. Mr. Ayala-Uribe was one of 53 people who died in ICE custody during President Trump’s first 500 days back in office, Al Jazeera reported. A June report by Human Rights Watch and Physicians for Human Rights put the annualized death rate under Mr. Trump at 6.38 per 10,000 detainees, up from 2.24 under President Joseph R. Biden Jr. The Department of Homeland Security has said, “There has been NO spike in deaths.” Thirty-three people died in ICE custody last year. At least 26 have died so far in 2026.