Dos sargentos de la policía de San Diego heridos en accidente en punto de control de DUI

A 77-year-old Iranian man with a rare, life-threatening liver disease was transferred to the Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego for what immigration officials called "better medical care." Instead, his daughter said in a court affidavit, staff placed him in isolation, where he banged on a locked door and screamed for help while struggling to breathe, with no one responding. Court records show he was moved to another cell but remained detained for weeks, despite letters from doctors and a consensus among medical staff at Otay Mesa and another facility that he should be released.

The man is among dozens of immigrants detained at Otay Mesa who described deteriorating health or inadequate medical care in court filings reviewed by inewsource. He and three others stated they were held in restricted, isolated cells for medical treatment.

Detainees who spent weeks or months—in one case, over a year—at the facility reported worsening health conditions in habeas corpus petitions, a federal legal tool used at record rates in recent months to challenge detention amid the Trump administration's immigration crackdown.

In an investigation, inewsource reviewed more than 500 habeas corpus petitions filed between January and March by detainees at Otay Mesa and an Imperial County detention center. Nearly 70 mentioned health problems or medical care at Otay Mesa specifically.

The petitions paint a picture of a facility struggling to care for patients, from those with basic ailments to those with serious diseases. Medical experts told inewsource that conditions that would otherwise be manageable can become life-threatening inside detention centers.

Katherine McKenzie, a professor at Yale School of Medicine and director of the Yale Center for Asylum Medicine, said detention centers are generally not well-equipped to handle complex medical cases. "Detention centers should not house people with chronic or acute illnesses," she said.

CoreCivic, the private prison company that runs Otay Mesa, and ICE both declined interview requests but provided statements. ICE said detainees receive medical, dental, and mental health services, including 24-hour emergency care, calling it "the best healthcare many aliens have ever received in their lives." CoreCivic spokesperson Brian Todd said the company follows federal detention guidelines and that the government closely monitors compliance.

"The safety, health, and well-being of the individuals in our care are our highest priority," he said. CoreCivic denies the existence of isolation at its facilities, stating that immigrants are placed in "medical housing units" for observation and treatment, which is distinct from disciplinary or administrative segregation.

Despite these claims, immigrant advocates have long raised concerns about conditions inside ICE facilities like Otay Mesa. Those concerns have intensified as deaths in immigration detention have reached a record high—50 during Trump's second term.

In April, more than 1,170 people were detained at Otay Mesa, most without criminal records. Independent oversight has been limited: San Diego County supervisors recently won a court case to ease federal restrictions on their access, and county health inspectors spent nearly eight hours on Friday evaluating conditions at the facility.

A report is expected in coming weeks.

The petitions detail a range of medical issues, including a 47-year-old Somali man who missed a scheduled hip replacement surgery; a 33-year-old Iranian man with severe neurological problems who received "minimal care" and was shackled during medical appointments; a man from Azerbaijan with acute gastrointestinal distress who lost 20 pounds during detention; a Mexican woman whose prescribed medication was confused with another detainee's laxative, causing a fall; and a 34-year-old Pakistani woman with asthma and anxiety who suffered panic attacks, head injuries, and a three-day hospitalization, writing, "I feel that if this continues while I remain here, I might die one day because I will stop breathing."

More than a dozen detainees reported chronic conditions like diabetes, Crohn's disease, and hepatitis C. Altaf Saadi, an assistant professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School who studies the health effects of immigration detention, said these facilities focus on acute care and private prison companies have incentives to cut costs, leading to understaffing, medication changes, and "grave consequences for patients with chronic diseases." A recent California Department of Justice report found that Otay Mesa and other ICE facilities in the state "did not meet ICE's own detention standards or ensure basic rights, safety, and well-being." A 2025 study co-authored by Saadi found that longer detention was linked to worse health outcomes, and a forthcoming study shows that interrupted care for chronic conditions leads to lasting psychological distress.

One case involved a 32-year-old Turkish man with rheumatoid arthritis who was detained while working as a driver. His sister said she tried to deliver his medication but was blocked.

A judge ordered a bond hearing, citing his "undisputed and documented medical conditions." Another case involved a 39-year-old Ecuadorian woman who was detained in November after nearly a decade in the U.S. with her now 9-year-old son.

She was forced to miss surgery for a uterine fibroid and said her son, who has severe autism and ADHD, told her, "I don't have enough fingers left to count the days I will be away."

ICE agents have broad discretion in deciding whom to detain, and can consider health. The 77-year-old Iranian man had lived in the U.S.

under supervision for over two decades, attending annual check-ins. He was fitted with an ankle monitor in November, which was removed because it interfered with monthly MRIs.

During his six-week detention, he lost 10 pounds and had high blood sugar. A CPAP machine sent to him lost essential parts.

Two doctors and a nurse practitioner wrote letters urging his release, with one warning that without specialized care his condition could worsen. A federal judge ordered his release in January, finding that ICE agents violated his due process rights, though the ruling was not based on his health.

The California DOJ's May report suggested the Iranian man's case is not isolated, noting that immigrants requiring higher levels of medical care remained in the facility's medical housing unit for months. Some detainees also described mental health impacts, including anxiety, depression, and sleep issues.

A 43-year-old Chinese woman wrote that she was "suffering" inside and begged the judge for help, saying, "I came to this country seeking refuge for what happened to me in my country. I never expected to suffer such inhuman treatment as these."

A suspect has been arrested in the 1999 cold case murder of Diane Ayres, a 23-year-old San Diego resident whose body was discovered in Balboa Park. The arrest comes more than two decades after the killing, following a renewed investigation that used advanced forensic evidence to identify the alleged perpetrator.

On December 4, 1999, golfers at the Balboa Park golf course discovered Ayres’ body in bushes along the 1800 block of Golf Course Drive. They immediately called for help, and the San Diego Police Department responded.

The Medical Examiner’s Office later determined that Ayres had been strangled.

For years, the case remained unsolved. Cold case investigators from the San Diego Police Department re-examined forensic evidence, which ultimately led to the identification of Christopher Lynn Creek, 52, as the suspect.

The SDPD worked closely with the FBI and the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office throughout the investigation.

Creek was located in a prison across the country. On June 16, he was arrested on the San Diego homicide warrant by the Laurens County Sheriff's Department and transferred from Dodge State Prison in Chester, Georgia, to the county jail.

He was set to be arraigned on Thursday in San Diego.

Facing a severe water supply crisis exacerbated by the drying Colorado River and crumbling infrastructure, officials from Tijuana, Mexico, visited Oceanside, California, on Tuesday to learn about advanced water recycling technology. The tour of Oceanside’s Pure Water facility comes as Tijuana residents face the possibility of water rationing this summer due to frequent pipeline breaks and increasing water scarcity.

Oceanside’s Pure Water facility, opened four years ago, was the first of its kind in San Diego County and the second in California. It converts 3 million gallons of recycled wastewater into drinking water daily, supplying 20% of the city’s water.

Rudy Guzman, who oversees the facility, demonstrated the purification process, explaining how wastewater is cleaned to a drinkable standard. “What if you take this wastewater, right, and you clean it enough so you can drink it?” Guzman asked officials during the tour.

“But we did it.”

Oceanside Mayor Esther Sanchez emphasized that severe drought conditions compelled the city to develop a local, drought-proof water supply, reducing reliance on the Colorado River. “When we realized that, of course, we’re in a desert, this could possibly continue to happen, we had to find another way of supplying or adding to our water supply,” Sanchez said.

She believes a similar approach could work for Tijuana and stressed the importance of sharing information and maintaining an ongoing dialogue.

According to a May report by the Institute of the Americas, Mexico is facing one of the most pressing water crises in the Western Hemisphere, with over 75% of the country experiencing drought and more than 100 aquifers overexploited. In Tijuana, aging pipelines frequently break, causing repeated water cutoffs for residents, said Tijuana City Councilmember Gina Arana.

The city’s infrastructure has not kept pace with its rapid population growth, now exceeding 2 million people.

Arana noted that while Tijuana has older water reuse programs that treat wastewater for green spaces and industrial use, it does not currently treat water for drinking. She said adopting advanced purification could help Tijuana become less dependent on the Colorado River and reduce the amount of untreated wastewater flowing across the border into San Diego County.

Richard Kiy, president of the Institute of the Americas, who helped arrange the site visit, agreed that reducing cross-border flows would not only improve Tijuana’s water resilience but also alleviate a political issue between Mexico and the United States. Arana added that the San Diego region is demonstrating the importance of public conservation efforts.

Tijuana officials plan to meet with other cities in Mexico investing in water recycling as they explore similar solutions.

Authorities have identified a 37-year-old man who was fatally stabbed last week near the Santa Fe Depot in downtown San Diego. The victim, Michael Cramp, a resident of San Diego, was found mortally wounded in the area of Front and C streets around 1 a.m.

on June 15, according to police. Patrol officers responded to a report of an assault and discovered Cramp suffering from critical injuries.

Paramedics transported him to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

A surveillance camera captured images of the suspected assailant walking east from the stabbing scene, said San Diego police Lieutenant Tien. Later that day, shortly after 8 a.m., transit security personnel reported making contact with a man matching the suspect's description at the 12th & Imperial Transit Center, near Petco Park.

Officers responded to the depot and arrested the individual, later identified as Conrad Waldron, 22.

Police have not disclosed a suspected motive for the deadly assault. However, Waldron is also suspected of carrying out a robbery and a non-fatal stabbing near the same area approximately one hour before Cramp was killed, Tien added.

The investigation remains ongoing, and authorities are urging anyone with additional information to come forward.

The suspect had threatened his mother before barricading himself, and she cooperated with officers after coming out. The incident occurred in the Cortez Hill neighborhood on 6th Street near Cedar Street at around 1:05 p.m., according to Officer Sarah Foster. The suspect began throwing items out a window. Emergency personnel performed chest compressions on a person taken away in an ambulance. The fire was on the fourth floor, the apartment complex was evacuated, and the fire was extinguished as of 3 p.m.

San Diego police officers were forced to open fire after a suspect barricaded themselves inside a downtown apartment and then set the unit ablaze, authorities reported. The incident unfolded early in the afternoon on the 1600 block of 6th Avenue, a densely populated area of the city.

According to the San Diego Police Department, officers responded to a call about a barricaded suspect. Upon arrival, they discovered that the individual had not only refused to surrender but had also started a fire inside the apartment.

In response, officers made a forced entry into the residence. During the entry, police discharged their weapons.

At this time, it remains unclear whether the suspect or any other individual was struck by the gunfire. No official statement on injuries or casualties has been released.

The incident is under active investigation, and further details are expected as the situation develops. The fire was brought under control by emergency services, but the building sustained significant damage.

This is a developing story, and updates will be provided as more information becomes available.