Costa Rica’s Legislative Assembly yesterday rejected a motion to hold a minute of silence for Carlos Josué Marchena, a Costa Rican man who died last week while in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Louisiana. The motion failed 28 to 25, with lawmakers from the governing Pueblo Soberano party voting against it.
In a statement issued after the vote, the Pueblo Soberano caucus extended its condolences to Marchena’s family and said its vote did not reflect indifference to their grief. The caucus said it was awaiting clarification of the circumstances of the death and argued that the motion sought to bring a debate over U.S. immigration policy onto the Assembly floor.
Hours before the vote, the political committee of the opposition Frente Amplio party called on the government to open a formal and transparent investigation into the deaths of two Costa Ricans in ICE custody. The party also asked the Foreign Ministry to provide consular support to Costa Ricans detained in the United States.
ICE confirmed the death in a statement released Monday. According to the agency, Marchena was found unresponsive on Sept. 18 at Winnfield Correctional Center, where staff called a medical emergency and began life-saving measures. He was taken to Winn Parish Medical Center, where a physician pronounced him dead at approximately 8 a.m. ICE said the official cause of death remains pending a medical examination.
The agency’s statement gave Marchena’s age as 36 and described him as a “criminal illegal alien.” ICE said his record included convictions for retail fraud and malicious destruction of personal property, along with separate arrests for second-degree retail fraud and assault. His family puts his age at 37. His sister, Franciny Araya Marchena, told local media that he had been held by immigration authorities since Jan. 14 and was moved from Michigan to California and finally to Louisiana.
Araya said her brother had diabetes and required medication and a controlled diet, and that the family received confirmation of his death through Costa Rica’s Foreign Ministry. She said that hours before he died, he told relatives he was experiencing chest pain. The family has alleged that Marchena had difficulty obtaining adequate food and medication after he was transferred out of Michigan. Araya has said those assessments are her own conclusions and that the family does not know the exact circumstances of his death.
A cousin, Bryan Marchena, said Carlos had lived in the United States for about five years, held a work permit and had begun the process of regularizing his immigration status. He said Marchena had been denied bond and voluntary departure on several occasions. Relatives said they had expected him to be deported to Costa Rica within one or two weeks and had already bought him clothes for his return. The family is now seeking financial help to repatriate his remains.
Marchena’s death follows the case of Rándall Gamboa Esquivel, who returned to Costa Rica gravely ill last year after about 10 months in ICE custody. Gamboa, 52, died weeks after his return, and his family said he had been held in poor conditions. Autopsy results are expected to determine the cause of Marchena’s death. The case has renewed questions in Costa Rica about medical care for detainees in U.S. immigration custody and about the consular support available to Costa Ricans held abroad.
