SAN DIEGO — Weeks after writing an op-ed for the Union-Tribune about his experience in immigration custody, Erik Mercado, a detainee at Otay Mesa Detention Center, was suddenly moved to a different facility in the middle of the night.
He and a couple dozen detainees were sent with shackles on their waists and legs on a bus to Nevada, Mercado said. He said they weren't able to use the bathroom during the entire trip.
On the way, all he could think about was that now he wouldn't be able to get the medical treatment he was supposed to have for a newly diagnosed liver condition, he said.
