Carlitos Ricardo Parias has spent nearly nine months detained inside the Adelanto ICE Processing where, according to his lawyer and a California congresswoman, he hasn’t received adequate medical care for the gunshot wound left by a federal immigration agent. The alleged medical negligence is the inspiration behind a newly proposed bill, the Stop ICE’s Medical Neglect Act of 2026.
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U.S. Rep Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Los Angeles) introduced the bill on Thursday, July 30 in the hopes of creating a database for medical complaints that rise from ICE detention centers across the country, including Adelanto.
“These are warehouses that are housing our people and medically mistreating them,” she said.
Under the proposal, complaints could be filed by detained people, lawyers, advocates, and family members on behalf of a person inside ICE detention. The complaints also could be filed confidentially to protect detained people from potential retaliation. Personal information would not be shared without the detained person’s consent.
Board-certified medical practitioners with experience administering care in carceral settings would be contracted to review each complaint and then provide appropriate treatment via telehealth video or in-person appointments. Under the plan, detained people would also be informed of language-appropriate interpretation services and would be provided translators during the medical appointments.
Republicans currently hold a slim majority in Congress, and at this early stage, it’s not clear whether the bill will gather any bipartisan support or have a pathway to pass.
“This is about Ricardo, but this is also about so many other Ricardos that are in our detention facilities at the hands of ICE, who are being medically abused,” Kamlager-Dove said.
Parias, a popular TikTok streamer known as Richard LA was leaving his home in South Los Angeles on the morning of Oct. 21, when he was boxed in by federal immigration agents during a traffic stop and shot in the arm.
The Department of Homeland Security previously said he drove his car into law enforcement vehicles in an attempt to escape when he was shot. A bullet also ricocheted and hit a U.S. deputy marshal in the hand, said DHS’ Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs at the time, Tricia McLaughlin.
Parias faced several charges, including assault on a federal officer, but a judge later dismissed the charges citing Parias’ lack of access to counsel and the government’s failure to provide pre-trial discovery material, like body-worn camera footage, to the defense in an appropriate manner.
Parias was released from federal custody in December and transferred to the Adelanto ICE Processing Center, where he remains while his immigration case plays out.
When Kamlager-Dove went to visit Parias, who is one of her constituents, inside Adelanto in May, she said he was “scared he was going to die in there.”
“His arm had atrophied, it had turned purple. … He was not given proper physical therapy. And what I saw looked like an arm that was on the verge of being amputated,” representative Kamlager-Dove said in an interview.
Parias’ attorney, Carlos Jurado, said the government was looking to transfer his client to the Otay Mesa detention center, close to the U.S.-Mexico border, to receive medical care.
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“We are concerned that this is a low-key way to deny him due process, access to his attorney,” Kamlager-Dove said. “And that why now all of a sudden is he getting medical treatment that we have been demanding and advocating for for months and months and months.”
Parias’ 18-year-old son, Ulises, has visited his father many times inside Adelanto in recent months, and each time he’s reminded of the pain his father is enduring. “He’s in an orange jumpsuit, his arm badly injured, and the only thing he can talk about is his arm,” Ulises said at a Wednesday, July 29 news conference announcing the bill.
“I had many nights crying to myself, scared that I’m not going to see my dad, scared that he might lose his arm. I’ve been scared that one of these days I’m not going to hear from my dad because he’s been speaking out,” he said.
The press conference was bittersweet for Ulises and his mother Gabriella Hernandez, Ulises said, because on one hand, dozens of supporters came out for Parias and his family but Parias remains locked up and injured inside Adelanto.
This proposed legislation comes as immigration detention centers across the country, including the Adelanto ICE Processing Center in Southern California, face criticism for alleged inhumane conditions.
Last month, three congressional members demanded an investigation into the alleged retaliation faced by multiple hunger strike leaders inside Adelanto following oversight visits.
A federal court recently ordered a list of immediate improvements to be made inside the Adelanto ICE Processing Center, including clean drinkable water, un-spoiled food, and a comprehensive medical system.
The order is part of a January lawsuit filed by civil and immigrant rights groups against federal agencies and authorities alleging inhumane treatment inside the immigration detention center.
Rep. Judy Chu (D-Pasadena) has been visiting the Adelanto ICE facility for the past 12 years and said at the press conference that conditions have gotten worse under the second Trump administration, citing recent oversight visits and deaths.
Five people have died after being detained inside Adelanto since September, four of which are allegedly associated with substandard medical care, according to the CA Attorney General’s office.
“I got inside and what I saw confirmed our worst fears, and that is why I have continued to demand that Adelanto be shut down permanently and forever,” Rep. Chu said of her recent visits.
DHS did not respond for a comment on representative Kamlager-Dove’s bill but an unnamed representative said, “Any claim that there are subprime conditions at Adelanto ICE processing facility are FALSE. All detainees are provided with proper meals, water, medical treatment, and have opportunities to communicate with their family members and lawyers. ICE has higher detention standards than most U.S. prisons that hold actual U.S. citizens.”
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