Día de los Muertos vigil remembers those who died in ICE custody
SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) -- Marigolds, candles and traditional offerings were set on an ofrenda, also known as an altar, at the Otay Mesa Detention Center on Wednesday to remember people who died while in detention facilities across the country.
Día de los Muertos, also known as Day of the Dead, is a traditional Mexican holiday honoring and remembering the dead with ofrendas containing offerings.
Groups like the American Friends Service Committee, Detention Resistance, Free Them All-SD and more organized the vigil. Director of the American Friends Service Committee Pedro Rios said they want to make sure those who died in custody are not forgotten.
Rios said they gathered “to honor them and to recognize them as important because they have names, they have families that likely did not have to be under detention, we want to make sure they are not forgotten.”
Deaths from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities are on the rise, according to The Border Report. Research by the American Civil Liberties Union states that 95% of deaths in ICE detention from 2017-2021 were preventable.
Most recently, Huabing Xie died in ICE custody at Imperial Regional Detention Facility after suffering a seizure on Sept. 29.
A candle is lit for Huabing Xie, who died while detained in September. (KSWB/KUSI) 
Día de los Muertos, also known as Day of the Dead, is a traditional Mexican holiday honoring and remembering the dead with ofrendas containing offerings. (KSWB/KUSI) 
Día de los Muertos, also known as Day of the Dead, is a traditional Mexican holiday honoring and remembering the dead with ofrendas containing offerings. (KSWB/KUSI) 
Día de los Muertos, also known as Day of the Dead, is a traditional Mexican holiday honoring and remembering the dead with ofrendas containing offerings. (KSWB/KUSI)
“We are here to honor Día de los Muertos event and also raise awareness to the public that these are lives that could’ve been saved,” American Friends Service Committee Organizer Adriana Jasso said.
ICE officials state that detainees have access to medical care while in custody.
“ICE remains committed to ensuring that all those in its custody reside in safe, secure and humane environments,” ICE officials said in a statement on Oct. 3.
However, Jasso shared that facilities often lack adequate medical attention, resources and food. She believes that migrants in custody are also facing a series of abuses and isolation.
“The Trump administration’s detention expansion plans are exacerbating the inhumane conditions inherent to ICE’s detention system,” Jasso said. “And people across the community are coming together to say that they have not been forgotten, and demand detention centers be shut down across the country.”
Organizers condemned private companies like CoreCivic who have profited from contracts with ICE.
“These are individuals that did not have to die under these circumstances, that probably have family that wish they could have been with them, and could have pursued their immigration cases without the need of having a private company profit from their detention,” Rios said.
