ICE Releases Details About Second Detainee In Georgia Who Died Of COVID-19
Jose Guillen-Vega, 70, from Costa Rica, was sent to the Stewart Detention Center in southwest Georgia.
David Goldman / Associated Press
Updated at 11:11 a.m. Thursday
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have released details about the 70-year-old detainee died in Georgia on Monday due to COVID-19.
Jose Guillen-Vega, from Costa Rica, died at Piedmont Columbus Regional Hospital on Monday night of cardiac arrest due to COVID-19 complications. A statement from ICE said he had been hospitalized since Aug. 1
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Guillen-Vega was in state prison in North Carolina for nearly 20 years, convicted of statutory rape and indecent liberties with a child. ICE took custody of him upon his release in July.
He was later sent to the Stewart Detention Center in southwest Georgia. Guillen-Vega was awaiting removal from the United States for being convicted for an aggravated felony.
This is the second COVID-19-related death at the facility.
Azadeh Shahshahani, the legal and advocacy director for Project South, says this was a tragic and preventable death.
“A 70-year-old man should not be held at any detention center in the midst of a pandemic,” she says. “There’s really no possibility to social distance.”
Advocates have repeatedly called for the facility to shut down.
In May, a 34-year-old Guatemalan man died after testing positive for COVID-19 while being held at Stewart. Santiago Baten-Oxlaj was hospitalized for more than a month.
This is the sixth death at Stewart Detention Center in the past three years.
A man identifying himself as Guillen-Vega’s son said, along with being older, his father had underlying health conditions and that the family plans to take legal action.
In a statement, ICE said it’s committed to the health and welfare of those in custody and is undertaking an agency-wide review of the death.
“Comprehensive medical care is provided from the moment detainees arrive and throughout the entirety of their stay,” the statement said.
Correction: This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Azadeh Shahshahani’s name.
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