Otay Mesa Detention Center detainee hospitalized in hunger strike – NBC 7 San Diego

An asylum seeker who’s been held at the Otay Mesa Detention Center for 17 months was hospitalized Sunday, several days into a hunger strike, according to his family and attorney, who said she’s been denied a legal visit with him as his condition deteriorates.

The man, who NBC 7 is identifying as Alex, came to the U.S. in 2024, scheduling an appointment through CBP One and presenting himself at the border to seek asylum, his attorney Linette Tobin said. He fled his home country, which NBC 7 is not disclosing for his safety, because he feared persecution.

“It’s not because of anything he’s done,” Tobin said. “It’s not because he’s committed a crime or is even accused of a crime, but it’s because of what he believes and who he is.”

Tobin said he’s been detained for the entirety of his asylum case, which was denied. He has since appealed and is again awaiting a decision in the backlogged immigration system.

“He’s been in prison for a year-and-a-half, and he is facing easily two more years in prison,” Tobin said, pointing to the increase in cases and the nationwide firings of immigration judges. “It could be more than that. It’s just waiting for his case to be adjudicated. But that’s how long things are taking.”

Immigration and Customs Enforcement has not responded to request for comment on Alex’s case.

“He is a very sweet, really kind, gentle person,” said his sister, who asked to be identified as Lana.

She said Alex loves dance, theatre and art. To keep his spirits up in the first year of his detention, Alex drew pictures for other detainees and the guards, according to Lana.

“He was really trying to make everything better, and every time that someone comes in new and they are depressed, he would help them,” she said. “It’s really horrible for me to see that he is definitely declining in his mood and hope.”

Tobin said they filed a habeas corpus petition in federal court to ask for his release, but that was denied in late February as well.

“Our habeas judge was an outlier. The vast majority of district court judges all across the nation are approving these cases and releasing these people,” she said. “But people are randomly assigned to judges, so you never know who you’re going to draw.”

Tobin and Lana both said that was the final straw for Alex, and he began a hunger strike. He’s on day 10 as of Monday.

“I was already concerned because the food situation there is like, no fruits, no fresh vegetables, so he already wasn’t that healthy,” Lana said. “I was really afraid and kind of trying to talk him out of it. But then he said, ‘I can’t do it anymore. I can’t just sit here and do nothing. It’s just – that’s the last thing I can do.’ And he said that he’s willing to die for it.”

“He’s so terrified of being returned,” Tobin added, “that very well might be the case, that that is what he would prefer. At least it would be in his hands.”

Tobin said he’s in such despair that he’s offered to give up his asylum case and be deported to Mexico, but ICE has refused that request.

“Rather than doing that, the U.S. government continues to pay every day for him to be imprisoned,” Tobin said.

She said she tried to visit Alex on Sunday, but the detention center staff refused to let her see him.

“They said they were taking him to a hospital. I asked about his condition. They wouldn’t give me any answers. I asked about his treatment. They wouldn’t give me any answers. I asked which hospital. They wouldn’t tell me,” Tobin said. “I said, ‘Why not? I’m his attorney. I have a right to speak with him. He has a right to speak with me.’ They said ‘No, for security reasons, we won’t give you any information.’ I said, ‘How am I a security risk to my client?’ No answer. Just, ‘Ma’am, we aren’t going to give you information.’”

Tobin and Lana both said Monday they did not know to which hospital Alex was taken.

“He shouldn’t have stayed there even for a month. For what?” Lana said. “We tried to follow every rule, like to make it as legal, as normal as possible, to do everything right.”

“He’s never committed a crime. He’s never been convicted. He hasn’t even been accused of committing a crime,” Tobin said. “But this administration has decided that people who come here to seek asylum will have to wait in prison for the outcome of their case, and they’re doing this to make the process so prolonged and so miserable that people give up.”

Lana said she recently became a U.S. citizen herself.

“I had such a high opinion about the U.S. when I got my naturalization just a couple years ago. And I was telling my family and telling him, ‘Here, you can be safe. You can be free, who you want to be. And this is the opposite experience,” she said. “He came here for help to save his life, and that’s how we welcome him.”