Martin Vargas v. United States of America, The Geo Group, and Wellpath L.L.C., 23-cv-380 (C.D. Cal).
This lawsuit seeks accountability for the death of Martín Vargas Arellano, who died at age 55 from COVID-19 complications after contracting the virus in ICE custody. His son, Martín Vargas, brings the case against the United States, the GEO Group—a private prison company that operates the Adelanto ICE Processing Center in California—and Wellpath, the facility’s contracted medical provider, seeking financial compensation for his father’s suffering and death.
Mr. Vargas Arellano came to the United States from Mexico when he was two years old. ICE detained him at Adelanto in April 2019, and the agency knew he was at high risk of serious illness or death if he contracted COVID-19 because of his age and chronic health conditions. Even so, ICE repeatedly refused to release him, denying his request for humanitarian parole and declining to release him under federal court orders that required ICE to reduce Adelanto’s population and release medically vulnerable people. In December of 2020, Mr. Vargas Arellano tested positive for COVID-19, which he contracted from a Wellpath medical provider. Over the next three months, he was hospitalized repeatedly, suffered a stroke, and continued to be denied release even as his condition became grave. In late February 2021, Mr. Vargas Arellano suffered brain death. Days later, ICE “released” him from custody. He died three days after that. Because he was no longer technically in custody, ICE did not report his death as a death in detention.
In February 2025, Mr. Vargas reached a settlement with the United States after the court denied its motion to dismiss. The case continues against GEO. In August 2026, the court wholly denied GEO’s motion for summary judgement.
The case raises broader concerns about medical care, detention conditions, and oversight in ICE detention facilities, including the practice of releasing people on their deathbeds to avoid reporting their deaths.