Martin Vargas Arellano
Martin Vargas Arellano, 55, had lived in the United States since childhood and used a wheelchair much of the time. He was held at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center in California, where he contracted COVID-19 in December 2020, and he was hospitalized and suffered a fall, brain surgery and a stroke. ICE released him on March 5, 2021, and he died on March 8 at St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton, according to court records. His son's wrongful-death lawsuit against GEO Group, which runs the facility, says the company let symptomatic staff into the facility dozens of times, and GEO disputes that its conduct caused the illness and death.
Cause of death, as reported: Died of illness (disputed; neglect alleged). Court records attribute his death to COVID-19 complications, and his son's wrongful-death lawsuit alleges GEO Group let symptomatic staff into the Adelanto facility dozens of times, which GEO disputes.
Reported by: court records; death certificate; his son's wrongful-death lawsuit, via the family's attorney at the National Immigration Project (family or their lawyers).
Lawsuit: His son sued GEO Group, the private operator of the Adelanto facility, in a wrongful-death lawsuit that a judge has allowed to go to trial, and no settlement or award has been reported.