CA23: Justice for Ismael Ayala-Uribe

The recent death of Ismael Ayala-Uribe in an ICE facility was a preventable failure and shines a light on the lax oversight by Representative Obernolte. Ismael died within days after being held in the Adelanto immigration detention center. He complained of fever, pain, and shaking and his condition was flagged as life threatening. Yet an hour and a half after a “code blue”, which is a code for cardiac/respiratory arrest, GEO medical staff cleared him to return to his unit.  Three days later, he was pronounced dead.

Oversight is meant to be the bulwark against these kinds of abuses. Rep. Jay Obernolte whose district includes these facilities, is supposed to provide oversight, demanding accountability, initiating hearings, pressuring federal agencies. But Representative Jay Obernolte has failed to meaningfully exercise that role, the consequence is that innocent lives are left exposed. There has been no public inquiry to obtain justice for Ismael coming from his office. The silence is deafening.

By refusing to shine daylight on systemic failures, Obernolte is complicit in allowing them to persist. If Obernolte refuses to act, he is an accomplice to death by inaction.

Ismael Ayala-Uribe is dead. That cannot be undone. 

Representative Obernolte may pretend indifference or hide behind bureaucratic distance, but that is no excuse. A public servant’s job is to safeguard human life, especially when the victims have no other power. If he continues to shirk that duty, he will be judged not just for what he allowed to happen, but for what he chose not to prevent.