(costa rica) — U.S. immigration and customs enforcement deported Randall Alberto Gamboa Esquivel to Costa Rica on an air ambulance after he was found in a vegetative state in a Texas hospital, and he later died, according to his family, medical reports and statements from the Department of Homeland Security.
The account from Gamboa’s family raises urgent questions about medical care and oversight in detention. His sister, Greidy Mata, asked how he deteriorated while in U.S. custody: “How is it possible that a man that left healthy, tall, chubby, robust, came back dirty, looked abandoned, with ulcers on his entire body, in a vegetative state? . He was a human being, not an animal,” she said.
DHS has defended the care provided in detention and said medical professionals hospitalized him for treatment. “While in custody, medical professionals diagnosed him with unspecified psychosis and hospitalized him at Valley Baptist Hospital so he could get proper mental health and medical care,” said Tricia McLaughlin, Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs at DHS, in an email response to the media.
Background and central issues
The case sits at the intersection of immigration enforcement, detention health care and oversight of people in government custody. Family members and Costa Rican officials are seeking a fuller accounting of what happened between his arrest and his death.
Questions in cases like Gamboa’s often turn on basic records and decision points: where a person was held, when communication stopped, what symptoms were documented, when hospitalization occurred, and how a deportation was carried out when someone was medically fragile.
Chronology and timeline (overview)
The chronology provided in reports and by family members traces events from entry to detention, hospitalization, medically assisted removal, and subsequent death. This section summarizes those key moments in prose so readers can follow the sequence before consulting the interactive timeline tool for exact dates and transfers.
According to family accounts and reporting, Gamboa, a 52-year-old Costa Rican, entered the U.S. in December 2024 and was arrested by ICE in Laredo, Texas. The family said he was in “perfect physical condition” and spoke with relatives through daily video calls while detained.
From February–june 2025 he was held at the Webb County Detention Center and later the Port Isabel Detention Center in Texas. Communication reportedly stopped abruptly on June 12, 2025, a date the family identifies as the pivot point in their search.
Family members later located him at Valley Baptist Hospital in Harlingen, Texas, in august 2025, describing him as bedridden and in a vegetative state. ICE paid for an air ambulance to deport him on September 3, 2025, and he died on October 26, 2025, in a hospital in Pérez Zeledón, Costa Rica.
Medical findings and cause of death
Costa Rican medical reports cited encephalopathy — impaired brain function — and rhabdomyolysis — breakdown of muscle tissue leading to kidney failure — as conditions noted after his return and hospitalization in Costa Rica.
The family describes severe malnutrition, dehydration and widespread ulcers when they located him in August 2025, while DHS has emphasized a diagnosis of “unspecified psychosis” and hospitalization for mental health and medical care.
Dispute over what triggered decline and treatment received
The family’s account and DHS’s account converge on the fact of hospitalization but diverge on what triggered his decline, what treatment he received before hospital admission, and what occurred during the weeks the family said they could not find him.
Relatives and advocates often look for documentary evidence to resolve such disputes: custody transfer logs, intake and clinical records, hospital paperwork, and discharge plans tied to removals. Those documents are central to understanding chronology and responsibility.
Diplomatic and public responses
Costa Rica moved the case into the diplomatic arena. Foreign Minister Arnoldo André Tinoco issued a diplomatic note to the U.S. State Department requesting a full clarification of the medical history and conditions leading to Gamboa’s state, according to reporting summaries.
Public criticism in Costa Rica included condemnation from Nobel laureate and former President Óscar Arias, who called the deportation’s condition “inhumane” and urged an end to what he described as “complicit silence” surrounding detainee treatment.
DHS statements and policy framing
DHS officials framed the case within enforcement priorities under the Trump administration, with McLaughlin quoted as saying, “Under President Trump and [Homeland Security Secretary] Kristi Noem, if you break the law, you will face the consequences. Criminal illegal [immigrants] are not welcome in the US,” in a statement previously reported on Nov 4, 2025.
DHS also emphasized custody health protocols, with McLaughlin stating detainees receive “dental and mental health intake screening within 12 hours of arriving at each detention facility [and] a full health assessment within 14 days.” DHS has additionally defended detention care with the remark, “This is the best health care that many aliens have received in their entire lives.”
Questions families and advocates pursue
- Where exactly was he held and when did transfers occur?
- When and how did communication with family stop, and what logs document that change?
- What symptoms were observed, and when were they documented in clinical notes?
- Who authorized hospitalization and later removal, and what discharge or transfer planning accompanied the deportation?
- What medical supports were provided during air ambulance transport, and what handoff occurred on arrival in Costa Rica?
Those questions reflect the types of records families request: intake screenings, clinical notes, transport logs, hospital records and any correspondence tied to removal decisions.
Challenges families face locating detainees
Detention systems can involve transfers that change access to phones or video calls, and illness can reduce a detained person’s ability to communicate. The family said they faced scams from fraudulent lawyers while searching for Gamboa, highlighting vulnerabilities relatives face when navigating cross-border detention bureaucracy.
How to verify official information and sources
For readers seeking primary sources and official statements, agency material is available online. DHS policies and statements can be consulted at Department of Homeland Security (DHS), ICE posts agency material at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and Costa Rica’s diplomatic communications are handled by the Costa Rican Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
This overview is meant to clarify which records and testimony typically inform such cases: DHS/ICE statements, hospital and clinical documentation, custody and transfer logs, and family testimony. Those overlapping sources can illuminate parts of the story while leaving other parts contested.
Broader policy context
The reporting described the administration’s mass deportation campaign and a “zero-tolerance” approach to immigration enforcement, which advocates say can create pressure for removals even when medical conditions complicate travel and continuity of care.
The practical questions in Gamboa’s case — what medical supports were provided during transport, what handoff occurred to health providers in Costa Rica, and what records accompanied him — are the kinds of details that often determine accountability in disputes over detention medical care.
In this case the timeline includes a medically assisted removal on September 3, 2025 and death on October 26, 2025, with Costa Rican reports citing encephalopathy and rhabdomyolysis.
Family perspective and continuing questions
Mata’s description of his condition on discovery was detailed and physical: she said he “came back dirty,” “looked abandoned,” and had “ulcers on his entire body,” framing the return to Costa Rica as both a loss of dignity and a medical collapse.
Her question — how someone she said left healthy and returned in a vegetative state — continues to animate the family’s push for explanations, even as DHS insists he was hospitalized so he could get “proper mental health and medical care.”
This report examines the death of Randall Alberto Gamboa Esquivel, who was deported to Costa Rica by ICE via air ambulance in a vegetative state. The case highlights a sharp divide between family allegations of neglect and official DHS statements claiming adequate care. With diplomatic tensions rising, the incident has become a focal point for critics of ‘zero-tolerance’ immigration policies and detention health standards.
