A 21-year-old pregnant woman in medical distress was deported from the United States to Colombia on Wednesday, despite a court order issued too late to prevent her removal, according to her attorney. Zharick Daniela Buitrago Ortiz, who is eight months pregnant, was sent back by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after being detained in Louisiana and transported to Atlanta for deportation.
US District Judge Sarah Geraghty issued a temporary restraining order at around 6pm on Wednesday, blocking ICE from deporting Ortiz before 30 January and requiring the agency to provide adequate medical care. However, by the time the order was issued, Ortiz had already been boarded onto a plane. Anthony Enriquez, vice-president of US advocacy and litigation at the Kennedy Human Rights Center, confirmed she is now in Colombia and remains in a state of physical distress.
Ortiz and her mother crossed the US-Mexico border in Texas in November seeking asylum. They told an immigration judge that Ortiz's father had been killed after publicly confronting corruption. The mother was deemed to have a credible fear of persecution and allowed to file an asylum application, but Ortiz was not and received an expedited removal order. Enriquez noted that ICE under the Trump administration regularly detains and deports pregnant women, despite a policy on paper that they should not be detained.
Ortiz's mother reported that her daughter is experiencing shooting pain in her abdomen and back, nausea, and vomiting, and has been denied medical care. Questions have been raised about the quality of medical care for pregnant detainees, with civil rights leaders citing reports of bleeding, miscarriages, and shackling. Enriquez expressed concern about the airline that allowed a woman in late-stage pregnancy and distress to fly.
