An ill, pregnant mom of two won a last minute stay of deportation on Tuesday, which advocates hope will give them more time to fight her case so that she will not be separated from her children. The clock had been ticking for her: she had already been moved to an immigration detention facility in Louisiana, a last stop before an immigrant is deported out of the U.S.
“Alma Santiago, who was 18 when she crossed into the U.S. in 2004—and then got hit with an order of deportation after missing a court appearance in San Antonio—was grabbed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents April 12, and placed in a detention facility in Bergen County, N.J. She has two young children who were born in the U.S. and are American citizens.”
ICE was moving to deport her even as she became ill while in detention, Huffington Post had reported. “The Guatemalan woman has been hospitalized twice for stomach infections since being arrested in April and has been unable to eat the greasy food she says she’s being served in detention. She has been vomiting and is dehydrated.”
Her advocates have feared she would miscarry while in custody. ICE was already detaining pregnant people, but in a Trump administration memo last year, cleared the way to begin detaining even more. Miscarriages while in federal immigration custody then nearly doubled following this change. Santiago, who fled gang violence in Guatemala, was detained by ICE “outside a family court in Queens, New York, where she was resolving a domestic dispute with her boyfriend.” Courthouse arrests have been yet another horrific trend under the Trump administration.
Santiago, however, remains detained. She deserves her freedom so she can be with her family, here in the United States. “The court this evening granted a temporary restraining order halting removal of Alma from the U.S. so as to give her an opportunity to fully assert her claims,” said advocate Melissa Chua. “The court will conduct further proceedings next week. We will continue to fight for Alma’s right to be heard and her right to remain with her U.S. citizen children.”