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Who was Randall Gamboa Esquivel? Family of Costa Rican man deported by ICE in ‘vegetative state’ demands answers
The family of Randall Gamboa Esquivel, a Costa Rican man who died after being deported in a “vegetative state,” is demanding answers.
The family of a Costa Rican man, who was deported by ICE in a “vegetative state,” is demanding answers, according to a recent report by The Guardian. Randall Gamboa Esquivel died shortly after being deported to his hometown of Pérez Zeledón.
Who was Randall Gamboa Esquivel? Family slams ICE for deporting Costa Rican man in ‘vegetative state’
The 52-year-old had left Costa Rica in good health in December 2024 to cross the US-Mexico border. However, he was detained by immigration officials for unlawful re-entry, as he had previously lived undocumented in the United States from 2002 to 2013.
Gamboa was initially held at the Webb County Detention Center in Laredo, Texas, before being transferred to the Port Isabel Detention Center in Los Fresnos. After nearly 10 months in custody, he was deported via air ambulance to San José, Costa Rica, in September 2025.
Upon deportation, he never regained consciousness and died five weeks later, on 26 October 2025, at a hospital in his hometown of Pérez Zeledón, about three hours south of the capital.
His younger sister, Greidy Mata, told the outlet that Gamboa appeared healthy during video calls from detention until their last conversation on 12 June 2025. After that, he seemingly vanished.
His family reached out to agencies, lawyers, and consulates for information. They discovered his serious condition only in August through a lawyer who found him hospitalised. He was described as being in a “vegetative state,” able to follow with his eyes but unable to speak or move.
Mata expressed shock at his return: dirty, abandoned-looking, covered in ulcers, and unresponsive. “How is it possible that a man who left healthy, tall, chubby, robust, came back... in a vegetative state?” she asked.
Medical records reviewed by the outlet show Gamboa was transferred on 23 June 2025 from Port Isabel to Valley Baptist Medical Center in Harlingen with “altered mental status.”
An ICE Health Service Corps document noted he had been prescribed antipsychotic and antidepressant medications, but Gamboa's relatives and friends denied any prior history of mental illness.
By 7 July, hospital records listed at least 10 conditions, with sepsis as the primary issue, followed by rhabdomyolysis (rapid muscle breakdown), protein malnutrition, and toxic encephalopathy. Later notes described decerebrate posturing, immobility, mutism, and catatonia; he received IV treatments and numerous medications.
Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary at the Department of Homeland Security, told the outlet that Gamboa was diagnosed with unspecified psychosis, following which he was hospitalised for appropriate care.
She described ICE medical protocols, including intake screenings, full assessments, and 24-hour emergency access, adding that such care is often the best many detainees receive in their lives.
Gamboa's family is criticising the lack of communication from ICE and the Costa Rican consulate, with Mata describing the ordeal as a “horror story.” They continue to seek accountability amid their ongoing grief.
