Pregnant Mother, 21, Held Over a Month at Dilley, Family Says

A 21-year-old pregnant woman and her infant son have been held for more than a month at the family immigration detention center in Dilley, Texas, her family and an advocacy group told ABC News.

Laura Rojas Ortiz was applying for a U visa — a status available to victims or witnesses of crimes — when she was detained during a check-in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Texas, her mother said.

"She was called to appear [at an ICE office] in Dallas," her mother, Paola, said in Spanish, in remarks translated from the original. "She showed up like she always does, and they detained her."

Paola said her daughter turned herself in at the southern border more than a year ago with her infant son and her partner. She said Rojas Ortiz began the U visa process after a shooting in her neighborhood sent a bullet through the walls of her home, allegedly grazing her son. According to Paola and a friend of Rojas Ortiz, the 21-year-old had been wearing an ankle monitor and checking in regularly with ICE before she was detained with her son as part of the Trump administration's immigration crackdown.

Rojas Ortiz is five months pregnant and has been detained more than 40 days, the family said. Her mother said the pregnancy is high-risk and that her daughter has not received an ultrasound, a specialist visit or blood tests. She also said her grandson, who had been drinking only lactose-free milk, was given whole milk at Dilley, and that ICE staff moved her daughter into a "medical room" during a recent visit by lawmakers so that "the politicians wouldn't see her pregnant."

A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said Rojas Ortiz will remain in ICE custody pending removal proceedings and denied the medical neglect allegations. The spokesperson said she was evaluated 24 hours after arriving, that a physician ordered prenatal vitamins, a low bunk, evening snacks and an obstetrics referral with an appointment scheduled this month, and that she was treated twice for headache and painful urination. Three pregnancy assessments were completed on June 30, July 17 and July 25, the statement said.

Advocacy groups say detaining pregnant women conflicts with an ICE directive against detaining people known to be pregnant, postpartum or nursing except in exceptional circumstances.

Rep. Joaquin Castro, who visited Dilley last week with other Democratic lawmakers, said more than 500 people are held there and that staff allowed him to meet only one minor. "There are now more children there than there were before," he said.

Casey Revkin, executive director of Each Step Home, said her group has been depositing money into Rojas Ortiz's commissary account and those of other families. DHS Chief Medical Officer Dr. Sean Conley has previously called claims of denied care "FALSE."