A 37-year-old man from Cameroon died Tuesday in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody, after undergoing treatment for a brain hemorrhage since Sept. 26 at Sharp Chula Vista Medical Center.
Nebane Abienwi was being detained at the Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego, according to an ICE news release. He was rushed to the emergency room Thursday after experiencing a hypertensive event in the middle of the night, according to the news release.
BuzzFeed News first reported on the man’s in-custody death Wednesday.
The man applied for admission into the United States in early September at the San Ysidro Port of Entry.
According to DHS records, he did not have proper entry documents when he crossed on Sept. 5 through the port of entry. He was transferred to ICE custody on Sept. 19, according to ICE.
Physicians at Sharp Chula Vista provided treatment to Abienwi, who was non-responsive to questions. He appeared paralyzed on his left side and remained in the hospital until he passed away Tuesday, according to ICE.
Medical staff at the hospital pronounced Abienwi dead on Oct. 1. His next of kin and the Consulate General of Cameroon were notified of his death.
Physicians identified the cause of Abienwi’s death as brain death secondary to basal ganglia hemorrhage, ICE said.
The agency said Abienwi received comprehensive medical care while he was in custody.
“ICE is firmly committed to the health and welfare of all those in its custody and is undertaking a comprehensive agency-wide review of this incident, as it does in all such cases,” a statement from ICE said. “Fatalities in ICE custody, statistically, are exceedingly rare and occur at a small fraction of the rate of the U.S. detained population as a whole.”
Abienwi’s death is the first in ICE custody in the new fiscal year, which began Tuesday, as BuzzFeed News reported Wednesday morning.
Source: The San Diego Union Tribune