ICE Deported Critically Ill Costa Rican Man Randall Gamboa, Family Says No One Warned Them

The family of a Costa Rican man who was deported from the United States while critically ill says they were never warned about the severity of his condition, raising urgent questions about medical care and communication in immigration detention.

Randall Gamboa Esquivel, 52, was returned to Costa Rica by air ambulance in September 2025 after nearly 10 months in US custody.

He arrived unresponsive and in a vegetative state. Five weeks later, he died at a hospital in Pérez Zeledón, his home town in southern Costa Rica. Relatives say they were left scrambling for information as his health deteriorated out of sight.

Detention and Sudden Health Collapse

Gamboa crossed the US Mexico border in December 2024, according to his family, and was detained for unlawful re-entry after previously living in the United States without documentation between 2002 and 2013.

He was first held at the Webb County detention centre in Laredo, Texas, before being transferred to the Port Isabel detention centre in Los Fresnos.

Family members say he appeared healthy during video calls while in detention. His sister, Greidy Mata, said their last contact was on 12 June.

After that, communication stopped. Weeks passed without updates as relatives contacted agencies, lawyers and consulates seeking information.

Medical records later shared with the Guardian show that on 23 June a transfer was requested from Port Isabel to Valley Baptist Medical Center in Harlingen.

A document from ICE Health Service Corps noted he had been hospitalised with an 'altered mental status' and had been prescribed antipsychotic and antidepressant medications.

Diagnoses Before Deportation

By early July, hospital records listed at least 10 diagnoses. Sepsis, a life-threatening reaction to infection, was the primary condition. Other diagnoses included rhabdomyolysis, protein malnutrition and toxic encephalopathy, a disorder that alters brain function due to infection or prolonged exposure to harmful substances.

A doctor's note dated 2 August stated that Gamboa did not move or respond, blinked intermittently and showed signs of decerebrate posturing.

He was described as catatonic and undergoing tube placement. Medication records indicate that by August he had received intravenous treatment and more than a dozen medications.

Relatives and friends have said Gamboa had no known history of mental illness before migrating to the United States.

Family Says Warnings Never Came

As reported by The Guardian, Mata said the family only learned of her brother's condition through a lawyer they contacted for help, not through officials. 'He follows you with his eyes, but can't talk. He is in a vegetative state,' the lawyer told them, according to Mata.

'How is it possible that a man who left healthy came back unrecognisable, with ulcers all over his body, in a vegetative state,' she said. Gamboa was pronounced dead on 26 October.

Costa Rica's Ministry of Foreign Affairs declined to be interviewed and did not respond to questions about whether consular officials visited Gamboa during his hospitalisation in Texas.

Omer Badilla, head of Costa Rica's migration agency, said authorities were notified of the deportation but received no details about his health.

Official Response From US Authorities

In an emailed statement, Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary at the US Department of Homeland Security, said medical professionals diagnosed Gamboa with unspecified psychosis and hospitalised him so he could receive mental health and medical care.

She said healthcare in immigration custody includes intake screenings, full health assessments and access to emergency care, adding that this is 'the best health care that many aliens have received in their entire lives'.

The case has drawn attention to how medical information is shared when detainees become seriously ill and how families are informed.

For Gamboa's relatives, unanswered questions remain about what happened during his months in custody and why they say no one warned them before he was sent home to die.