The family of a Costa Rican man who was deported from the United States in a vegetative state and died shortly after returning home is still urgently seeking answers from authorities about what happened to him while in detention.
Randall Gamboa Esquivel left Costa Rica in good health and crossed the U.S.-Mexico border in December 2024, according to his family. However, he was detained by U.S. authorities for re-entering the country unlawfully, having previously lived there without documentation between 2002 and 2013.
Gamboa was first held at the Webb County detention center in Laredo, then transferred to the Port Isabel detention center in Los Fresnos, both in south Texas. Nearly ten months later, in September 2025, the Trump administration flew the 52-year-old to the Costa Rican capital, San José, on an air ambulance.
He never regained consciousness and was pronounced dead five weeks later at a hospital in his hometown of Pérez Zeledón, about three hours north of the capital.
The Guardian spoke with relatives, neighbors, and old friends in Costa Rica who remain shocked and outraged by what happened. His younger sister, Greidy Mata, said she is still trying to understand how his health deteriorated so severely while in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
In an exclusive interview in Pérez Zeledón, Mata recalled that Gamboa had sounded and looked healthy during video calls while he was detained—until June 12, which was their last conversation. After that, he seemed to vanish. Mata waited weeks to hear from him, unaware that Gamboa had fallen into a health crisis.
“My brother disappeared, and we had to reach out to agencies, lawyers, consulates, anyone willing to help,” Mata said in Spanish, standing across from the hospital where Gamboa died on October 26.
“How is it possible that a man who left healthy, tall, chubby, and robust came back dirty, looking abandoned, with ulcers all over his body, in a vegetative state?” she asked.
Medical records from Gamboa’s time in U.S. custody, shared with The Guardian, show a transfer request from the Port Isabel detention facility to Valley Baptist Medical Center in Harlingen—28 miles east—on June 23.
A document issued by ICE Health Service Corps (IHSC), which provides healthcare in immigration custody and evaluates individuals slated for deportation, states that Gamboa was hospitalized with an “altered mental status.” The document also notes he had been taking antipsychotic and antidepressant medications.
Relatives and friends denied that Gamboa had any history of mental illness before migrating to the U.S.
When asked about Gamboa’s detention and health, Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS)—ICE’s parent agency—said in an email: “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.”
McLaughlin added that medical care for those in ICE custody includes “dental and mental health intake screening within 12 hours of arriving at each detention facility, a full health assessment within 14 days of entering ICE custody or arrival at a facility, and access to medical appointments and 24-hour emergency care.” She stated, “This is the best health care that many aliens have received in their entire lives.”
By July 7, medical documents show Gamboa had been diagnosed with at least ten conditions, including sepsis—a life-threatening response to infection.His primary diagnosis was sepsis, a life-threatening reaction to an infection, followed by rhabdomyolysis, a condition involving the rapid breakdown of damaged muscle tissue. Other conditions noted in his records were protein malnutrition and toxic encephalopathy, which is caused by an infection or prolonged exposure to drugs, radiation, or metals and ultimately alters brain function.
“I can’t sleep thinking about what would have happened if we had known he was sick. Why did they keep this information from us? We only found out where he was in August,” said Mata, struggling to maintain her composure as she cried during a recent December afternoon interview in Pérez Zeledón.
“The information didn’t come from the Costa Rican consulate or ICE. It came from a lawyer we asked for help, who called us and said, ‘I found him in a bed. He follows you with his eyes but can’t talk. He is in a vegetative state,’” she explained.
Costa Rica’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs declined an interview with the Guardian to discuss Gamboa’s case and did not respond to a series of questions, including whether any consular officers visited him during his hospitalization in Texas.
The director of Costa Rica’s migration agency, Omer Badilla, stated that his office was notified of Gamboa’s deportation to San José but received no details regarding his health.
According to a medical report from the hospital, a doctor who saw Gamboa on August 2 wrote: “He doesn’t move or respond. He does blink at times … there is immobility and mutism present. The patient appears to be exhibiting decerebrate posturing.” This typically involves the arms and legs held stiffly straight, with the head arched back and toes pointed downward. The doctor also noted Gamboa was “undergoing tube placement.”
A medication list included in his records showed that by August 7, nearly a month before his deportation, Gamboa had received IV injections and more than a dozen medications. He was assessed as catatonic.
“At times this all seems like a horror story or a lie,” said Mata, as she prepared to spend Christmas mourning her brother.
She recalled that when Gamboa first returned home, there was a flicker of optimism. “It was nice seeing and touching him again because it gave us hope that he could recover,” she said. “But the doctors never said that … and we realized then that the condition he arrived in was irreversible.”
Frequently Asked Questions
Of course Here is a list of FAQs about the case of a man in a vegetative state deported to Costa Rica by ICE written in a natural tone with direct answers
Basic Understanding of the Case
1 What happened in this case
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported a man who was in a vegetative state following a heart attack back to his home country Costa Rica His family was not notified in advance and learned about it after the fact
2 Who was the man who was deported
His name was Alvaro Antonio Rojas Calero He was a 44yearold Costa Rican national who had lived in the US for many years
3 What does vegetative state mean
A vegetative state is a severe medical condition where a person is awake but shows no signs of awareness of themselves or their environment They require constant fulltime medical care for survival
4 Why was he in ICE custody
He was detained by ICE after serving a criminal sentence ICE states his prior convictions made him a priority for deportation under US immigration law
Questions About the Process and Policy
5 Is it legal for ICE to deport someone in a vegetative state
Legally yes US immigration law allows for the deportation of noncitizens with certain criminal convictions regardless of their medical condition However the ethics and humanity of such an action are heavily debated
6 Why is the family so upset
The family is devastated because they were not informed before the deportation occurred They argue the move was inhumane put his life at risk during transport and severed his connection to family who could visit and advocate for his care
7 Didnt ICE need the familys consent
No For deportation orders ICE does not require family consent They are required to obtain medical clearance for travel from their own doctors which they stated they did in this case
8 What is medical repatriation and is that what this was
Medical repatriation typically refers to the voluntary transfer of a patient to their home country for care often coordinated with family and medical teams The family and their advocates argue this was a forced deportation not a coordinated medical transfer
Broader Implications and Concerns
9 What happens to him now in Costa Rica
He was admitted
