- Oct 17, 2011
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Randall Gamboa Esquivel had left Costa Rica in good health and crossed the United States-Mexico border in December 2024, according to his family. However, Gamboa was detained by the US authorities for re-entering American soil unlawfully, as he had previously lived there undocumented between 2002 and 2013.
Gamboa was initially held at the Webb county detention center in Laredo and then transferred to the Port Isabel detention center in Los Fresnos, both in south Texas. Nearly 10 months later, in September 2025, the Trump administration flew the 52-year-old to the Costa Rican capital of San José on an air ambulance.
He never came round and five weeks later Gamboa was pronounced dead at a hospital in Pérez Zeledón, his home town, around three hours south of the capital.
Medical records related to Gamboa’s time in US custody and shared with the Guardian show that there was a transfer request for him from the Port Isabel detention facility to Valley Baptist medical center in Harlingen, 28 miles (45km) east, on 23 June. [so after months of detention]
By 7 July, Gamboa had been diagnosed with at least 10 conditions, medical documents from the hospital show. Sepsis, a life-threatening reaction to an infection, is listed as his primary diagnosis, followed by rhabdomyolysis, a condition in which damaged muscle tissue breaks down rapidly.
Other conditions outlined in the records included protein malnutrition and toxic encephalopathy, caused by an infection or prolonged exposure to drugs, radiation or metals that ultimately alters brain function.
Gamboa was initially held at the Webb county detention center in Laredo and then transferred to the Port Isabel detention center in Los Fresnos, both in south Texas. Nearly 10 months later, in September 2025, the Trump administration flew the 52-year-old to the Costa Rican capital of San José on an air ambulance.
He never came round and five weeks later Gamboa was pronounced dead at a hospital in Pérez Zeledón, his home town, around three hours south of the capital.
Medical records related to Gamboa’s time in US custody and shared with the Guardian show that there was a transfer request for him from the Port Isabel detention facility to Valley Baptist medical center in Harlingen, 28 miles (45km) east, on 23 June. [so after months of detention]
By 7 July, Gamboa had been diagnosed with at least 10 conditions, medical documents from the hospital show. Sepsis, a life-threatening reaction to an infection, is listed as his primary diagnosis, followed by rhabdomyolysis, a condition in which damaged muscle tissue breaks down rapidly.
Other conditions outlined in the records included protein malnutrition and toxic encephalopathy, caused by an infection or prolonged exposure to drugs, radiation or metals that ultimately alters brain function.
