A 21-year-old pregnant woman in medical distress was deported from the United States to Colombia on Wednesday afternoon, according to her attorney, despite a court order issued too late to prevent her removal. Zharick Daniela Buitrago Ortiz, who is eight months pregnant, was sent back by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after being detained for four months without adequate medical treatment.
Anthony Enriquez, vice-president of US advocacy and litigation at the Kennedy Human Rights Center, said Ortiz was boarded onto a plane before a federal judge could intervene. US District Court Judge Sarah Geraghty issued a temporary restraining order at around 6pm, enjoining ICE from deporting Ortiz before 30 January and requiring the agency to provide medical care. 'By the time she issued that order, the government had already boarded her onto a plane,' Enriquez said. 'She is now in Colombia.'
Ortiz and her mother crossed the border in Texas in November seeking asylum, after Ortiz's father was killed for publicly confronting corruption. While her mother was deemed to have a credible fear of persecution and allowed to file an asylum application, 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 that normally prohibits their detention.
Ortiz's mother reported that her daughter is experiencing shooting abdominal and back pain, nausea, and vomiting, and has been denied medical care. 'She has asked for medical care and has been denied it,' Enriquez said. Civil rights leaders have raised concerns about medical neglect of pregnant detainees, including reports of bleeding, miscarriages, and shackling.
