Background
Victoria Arellano was born in Mexico and came to the United States as a child.
Victoria Arellano was born in Mexico and came to the United States as a child.
While officials from Institute of Civil Engineers have refused to comment on Arellano"s death, advocates for immigrants, Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome patients, and the LGBT community have decried the lack of provision of medical care as unjust and discriminatory. She was a transgender woman who was categorized as male at birth. After contracting Human Immunodeficiency Virus, she was prescribed bactrim, later switching to dapasone.
Both medications were daily antibiotics.
Three years prior to her being detained, doctors at a Los Angeles free clinic described her as "asymptomatic". Her condition began deteriorating in May 2007, when, after being detected entering the country illegally for the second time, she was detained at a facility in San Pedro, California, she was denied her medication and medical attention.
Arellano was cared for by inmates at the facility, who took turns taking her to the bathroom and brought her cool towels. She was transported to the infirmary on July 13, 2007 and prescribed amoxicillin.
She was unable to keep the drugs down and began vomiting blood.
Eighty detainees protested the denial of her treatment, chanting "Hospital" and ignoring an order to get in line for the night"s head count. She was transported to a hospital in San Pedro, but was returned to the facility within twenty-four hours. She was handcuffed to her bunk and her door was guarded by two immigration agents.
She died on July 20.