US health official impressed with services at oft-criticized San Diego immigration jail

Health official tours San Diego immigration jail

SAN DIEGO — A U.S. health official says he was impressed by the services he saw delivered at an often-criticized immigration detention center in San Diego.

Dr. David Rutstein, the acting deputy surgeon general, peppered doctors with questions during a one-hour tour Wednesday.

He was told that detainees are thoroughly evaluated when they arrive to determine what services they need. He was assured that mentally ill patients quickly get the drugs they need.

Rutstein says he didn’t learn enough to say whether complaints about the facility are justified. The American Civil Liberties Union sued the federal government in 2007 over care at the facility after a Salvadoran immigrant was denied a biopsy. He was later diagnosed with cancer and died.