This notification is being issued to the public pursuant to the CBP policy regarding Notification and Review Procedures for Certain Deaths and Deaths in Custody and the Department of Homeland Security FY 2021 Appropriation (H. Rept. 116-458) reporting requirements related to CBP-involved deaths.
On March 26, 2025, at approximately 10:25 a.m., Border Patrol Agents (BPA) assigned to roving patrol operations observed a gray 2014 Honda Odyssey travel through the California Agriculture Inspection Station in Needles, California. The BPAs observed blankets obscuring areas inside the vehicle and suspected persons or contraband were being concealed. BPAs conducted a vehicle stop on westbound Interstate 40 at milepost 145. During the vehicle stop, BPAs encountered a 52-year-old female citizen of the People’s Republic of China, and three other Chinese nationals. Records checks revealed that the 52-year-old woman had entered the United States through Los Angeles, California, as a B1/B2 visitor in February 2024, and had overstayed her admission. BPAs subsequently arrested the woman and found over $200,000.00 USD in the vehicle. The woman could not explain the source of the currency. BPAs then transported the woman to the U.S. Border Patrol (USBP) Blythe Station where BPAs logged her into the facility at approximately 2:53 p.m.
On March 27, 2025, at approximately 12:10 a.m., BPAs transported the woman to the USBP Yuma Station where BPAs logged her into the facility at approximately 2:49 a.m. At approximately 3:56 a.m., USBP personnel placed the woman in a detention cell as the sole occupant to await placement at a long-term detention facility. Detention logs noted that USBP personnel subsequently conducted six welfare checks or provided meals to the woman.
On March 28, 2025, at approximately 2:33 a.m., CBP-contract medical personnel treated the woman for a headache, cough, and acid reflux. CBP-contract medical personnel annotated that the woman was calm during her medical treatment and returned the woman to her cell. At approximately 5:04 a.m., CBP-contract medical personnel provided the woman follow up treatment for her cough and headache, at which time they noted a rash on her neck which medical personnel believed stemmed from a hygiene issue. In conjunction with her medical treatment, USBP personnel provided the woman access to shower facilities. Detention logs noted that USBP personnel subsequently conducted five welfare checks or provided meals to the woman.
OPR's investigation revealed that the last interaction with the woman occurred at 10:29 p.m., on March 28, 2025. Following that interaction, welfare checks were recorded on six occasions before she was discovered unresponsive on March 29, 2025, at 5:57 a.m. OPR’s interviews with the relevant USBP personnel revealed these welfare checks were not performed.
OPR’s review of detention cell surveillance footage showed that on March 29, 2025, at approximately 4:42 a.m., the woman tore a mylar blanket with her teeth, pulled a strip from the mylar blanket lengthwise, twisted the strip, and formed it into a loop at one end. At approximately 4:47 a.m., the woman went behind the wall in the cell that provides privacy for people using the restroom. The woman remained standing and was visible in the video footage from the chest up for approximately one minute. The woman then sat down with her head still visible, then placed the loop around her neck. At approximately 4:48 a.m., the woman’s body moved forward out of camera view.
At approximately 5:57 a.m., a Border Patrol Processing Coordinator (BPPC) entered the cell and found the woman unresponsive with the torn mylar blanket wrapped around her neck. USBP personnel cut the mylar blanket releasing the woman and immediately initiated cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). At approximately 6:04 a.m., USBP personnel telephonically contacted Yuma Sector Radio Communications personnel and advised them to request assistance from Yuma Fire Department emergency medical services (EMS) personnel. At approximately 6:10 a.m., EMS personnel arrived, assumed care of the woman, and continued CPR. At approximately 6:29 a.m., EMS transported the woman to the Onvida Health Yuma Medical Center, where a doctor pronounced her deceased at approximately 6:52 a.m. Yuma Police Department responded and documented the incident.
On March 31, 2025, Pinal County Medical Examiner’s Office (OME) personnel performed an autopsy on the decedent and advised CBP OPR the preliminary cause of death was suicide by asphyxia due to ligature hanging. The official report and cause of death will be provided by the medical examiner once all toxicology results have been returned.
CBP personnel notified the Chinese Consulate of the death.
CBP OPR is reviewing this incident. The Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General was notified.