Colombian asylum-seeking mother says kidney infection went untreated for months at Otay Mesa
Sep 13, 2026·Location: San Diego, CA
Country of origin: Colombia

A Colombian mother seeking asylum after fleeing domestic violence says she has suffered months of delayed and inadequate medical care for a serious kidney and urinary tract infection while detained at Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego. She crossed the border in the San Diego-Tijuana area in September 2025 and has been held since October while her asylum case, which the government sought to redirect to Honduras, remains on appeal. Medical records show repeated visits for pain, bleeding, and blood in her urine that went undertreated for months, including delayed antibiotics, a delayed ultrasound and CT scan, and two emergency room visits before she was hospitalized and diagnosed with pyelonephritis. She said a guard mistreated her, including a 30-day suspension of her phone privileges that cut off contact with her two children.
Timeline
Sources
- Months of pain, delayed care: An asylum seeker’s health crisis in ICE custody
daylightsandiego.org·Sep 8, 2026·archived copy
- Months of pain, delayed care: An asylum seeker's health crisis in ICE custody
timesofsandiego.com·Sep 13, 2026·archived copy
- Capital & Main investigation revealed ICE and CoreCivic denied an asylum seeker medical care for a kidney infection at Otay Mesa
standingrecord.com·Sep 9, 2026
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