Randall Alberto Gamboa Esquivel, a 52-year-old Costa Rican, died weeks after being deported by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in a vegetative state.

According to The Guardian, the man was detained in Texas after attempting to re-enter the United States in search of employment. After months in federal custody, he was repatriated by air ambulance, unable to communicate or move on his own. According to the same source, he died on October 26 in a hospital in Perez Zeledon, Costa Rica, leaving his family demanding answers about what happened during his detention.

A Detention That Ended in Tragedy

According to the family, Gamboa communicated daily from the Webb County Detention Center in Texas until his calls abruptly stopped in June. After persistent attempts to locate him, they learned that he had been transferred to the Port Isabel Detention Center, with no official information about his health.

According to a statement from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Costa Rican was diagnosed with an “unspecified psychosis” and hospitalized at Valley Baptist Hospital. His sister, Greidy Mata, recounted that the authorities never notified the family about his true condition. When they managed to locate him in August, he was already bedridden and neurologically unresponsive.

Repatriation and Death in Costa Rica

An ICE-funded air ambulance transported Gamboa to Costa Rica in early September. He was admitted in critical condition to San Juan de Dios Hospital in San Jose and later transferred to a local hospital in Perez Zeledon.

The medical diagnosis included encephalopathy, rhabdomyolysis, and severe muscle damage. His partner, Adriana Urena, told Univision that the treatment he received in the United States was “inhumane” and that the family was never informed about the causes of his deterioration.

After his death, the family asked the Costa Rican government to demand explanations from Washington, although they claim to have received only minimal diplomatic responses.

Accusations and Official Responses

Tricia McLaughlin, a DHS spokesperson, maintained that Gamboa “received superior medical care than many immigrants have had in their entire lives.” The official also noted that illegal reentry is a serious crime and affirmed that ICE acted within the law.

However, court records cited by The Guardian show that Gamboa only had minor offenses for driving without a license and petty fraud, neither of which were classified as violent.

Former Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, joined the criticism. In a message on X, he denounced the “complicit silence” of both governments and stated that “Randall’s family deserves to know the truth about what happened while he was in U.S. immigration custody.”

For Randall’s family, the case is a symbol of the inhumane treatment faced by thousands of migrants detained in federal custody: “My brother wasn’t a criminal, he was a hard-working man who was just looking for an opportunity,” said Greidy Mata after the funeral.

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