Members of San Diego’s congressional delegation on Friday demanded answers from the Trump administration regarding the death of an immigrant detainee at Otay Mesa Detention Center.

Guillermo Pascual Verganza, 42, was found unconscious and unresponsive in his single-occupant cell at the Department of Homeland Security facility near the border on Oct. 24, according to the San Diego County Medical Examiner’s Office.

Prison staff members and paramedics tried in vain to revive the man before pronouncing him dead at the scene shortly before 12:30 p.m., the county agency reported.

San Diego Democratic Reps. Juan Vargas, Scott Peters, Sara Jacobs, along with Rep. Mike Levin, who represents part of North County and south Orange County, joined in writing a letter with California’s senators, Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff, expressed their “grave concern” over Pascual’s death.

They called for an inquiry into his death and for regular updates on its progress because “without complete and accurate information, Congress cannot fully assess whether existing policies, procedures and safeguards are sufficient to protect individuals in federal custody.

“A thorough investigation is all the more important in light of previously documented concerns regarding delayed access to medical care, subpar detention conditions and compliance with public health reporting requirements,” the lawmakers wrote to the letter, Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin and Acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director David Venturella.

In the week following Varganza’s death, officials with CoreCivic, the Tennessee-based firm that runs the facility, said in a statement that they had immediately informed their “government partners at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement” of his loss.

ICE did not respond to a request for comment about the death.

The Guatemalan national had been taken into custody in Escondido in early October, according to news accounts.

County actions

During a news conference last month, San Diego County Supervisors Paloma Aguirre and Terra Lawson-Remer called on the Trump administration and CoreCivic to cooperate with county investigators and clear the way for ongoing inspections of the Otay Mesa Detention Center.

After ICE denied supervisors access to the detention center, the county sued and secured a federal court order allowing an inspection in June.

That scrutiny identified failures to promptly report suspected tuberculosis cases, a lack of vaccines in stock and delays in providing necessary medical equipment, according to the supervisors. In September, the county issued another notice of noncompliance after a suspected tuberculosis case allegedly went unreported for about three weeks.

The county’s public health officer is evaluating additional oversight measures, including follow-up inspections. Litigation over the county’s ongoing inspection authority remains unresolved.

While exact numbers of detention center fatalities are elusive, the ACLU reported last month that at least 57 people had died while in U.S. immigration detention since the start of President Donald Trump’s second term. That’s more than double the number of deaths recorded from the previous four years combined.

According to a Human Rights Watch report released in June, the mortality rate of ICE detainees, based on 52 known deaths at the time – had reached its highest level in over a decade.

“Urgent action is needed to address this crisis and prevent further deaths,” the report concluded.