Guatemalan man deported after months in freezing ICE detention following worksite raid
Sep 21, 2026·Location: San Diego, CA
Country of origin: Guatemala

Jorge (a pseudonym), a Guatemalan man who fled gang extortion threats and joined family in San Diego, was arrested by ICE during a raid on his construction worksite after working there for five months. He spent three months in detention, much of it in frigid holding cells where he slept on bare concrete with only a foil sheet, and developed bronchitis after officers allegedly made cells colder in retaliation for complaints; staff denied him hospital care. He said he signed English-language deportation papers he could not read after being threatened with years in federal detention, later learning the signing carried a 10-year reentry bar, and described being shackled during his deportation flight to Guatemala.
Sources
More incidents in California
- Haitian father detained by ICE moments after dropping daughter at San Diego daycareSep 18, 2026 · San Diego, CA
- Colombian man deported after ICE sting using fake Facebook Marketplace buyerSep 17, 2026 · Sacramento, CA
- Judge rules Border Patrol illegally arrested LA immigrants without warrants or flight-risk checksSep 17, 2026 · Los Angeles, CA
- Santa Barbara observer pepper-sprayed by ICE agent at county jailSep 15, 2026 · Santa Barbara, CA
- Detained immigrant's untreated throat tumor grew to size of lemon, lawyer saysSep 15, 2026 · California City, CA
- Woman miscarries at Mesa Verde detention center in CaliforniaSep 15, 2026 · Bakersfield, CA