Riley B. | Red Phoenix correspondent | California–
Following years of complaints about overcrowding, spread of disease, rampant starvation, freezing temperatures, beatings by sadistic guards, and medical neglect, ICE concentration camps have recently claimed two more victims: Alberto Gutiérrez-Reyes, 48, and Emmanuel Damas, 56. In clear violation of any “freedoms” promised by our bourgeois republic, the current fascist administration has argued in the courts that its agents should be able to kidnap people based on their appearance and ability (or lack thereof) to speak English. The administration is outright demonstrating genocidal intent: they want to cull the population of people who don’t align with white supremacist notions of “American” identity. While targeting people from South or Central America, federal forces are even abducting Native Americans.
Alberto Gutiérrez-Reyes was a husband and father, who had lived in this country for decades. His “immigration enforcement” nightmare began on Jan. 9, when Customs and Border Protection did a roving raid in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles. They drove around the neighborhood for hours, snatching people based on the color of their skin, and Gutiérrez was among those kidnapped that day.
While this clearly violates the “freedoms” promised by our bourgeois democracy, Gutiérrez was held in Adelanto, a GEO Group for-profit camp in California with a long record of medical neglect resulting in illnesses and deaths. The people imprisoned there have been heard shouting “¡Nos tratan como perros! ¡Nos tratan como perros en jaulas!” (“They treat us like dogs! They treat us like dogs in cages!”). There have been continuous reports of infectious diseases spreading. People who manage to get antibiotics share them with others who are refused treatment, leaving nobody with the appropriate amount of treatment. There have been ongoing reports of people fainting, yet still being denied medical attention.
When Erick Gutiérrez, Alberto’s son, visited the camp on Feb. 22, he saw that his father had yellow skin and yellow eyes, clear indicators of jaundice, signaling severe liver or gallbladder dysfunction. He needed daily medication for his type 2 diabetes and high cholesterol, but reported being neglected by the staff at the camp. Jaundice is a predictable result of untreated diabetes. Alberto fainted on Feb. 25, then died on Feb. 27. This was just fifty days after being healthy enough to work construction. Erick asserts that:
“It could have been prevented if only they had given him medical attention.”
Emmanuel Damas came from Haiti to seek asylum after his country was destabilized by centuries of French colonialism and US imperialism. Despite being here legally, he was kidnapped from Boston in Sep. 2025. After months of false imprisonment in multiple facilities, he developed a tooth infection. His brother, Presly Nelson, says the toothache was reported on Feb. 12. The medical personnel in CoreCivic’s for-profit camp Florence in Arizona ignored Damas’ complaints and failed to treat him. As he developed sepsis, cried from extreme pain, and started collapsing, the fascist guards laughed and accused him of “faking.” He was taken to a hospital just in time to die on March 2. His was the tenth known immigration concentration camp death of 2026.
In genocidal, fascist fashion, ICE’s press releases have tried to dehumanize its victims by calling them “criminal illegal aliens.” The agency writes ridiculous lies about “safe, secure, and humane environments,” in the same statements where it reports the preventable deaths of the people it dehumanizes.
We must demand the closure of these camps, the abolition of ICE and CBP, and legal rights for all migrants as absolute minimum demands in our struggle for the liberation of working people. The politicians, concentration camp investors, and their foot-soldiers must all be brought to justice. This can only be accomplished by an organized working class, with a relentless commitment to eradicating racism, ableism, and fascism.
“There can be no doubt that dire poverty alone compels people to abandon their native land, and that the capitalists exploit the immigrant workers in the most shameless manner.”
V. I. Lenin, “Capitalism and Workers’ Immigration,” 1913.