ICE Is Rushing To Deport A Woman Who’s Eight Months Pregnant

“Given ICE is operating as a black box of impunity, what’s being reported is likely only scratching the surfaces of mistreatment,” Zain Lakhani, a director at the Women’s Refugee Commission, told Jezebel.

On Wednesday, the Guardian broke the harrowing story of Zharick Daniela Buitrago Ortiz, a 21-year-old woman who is eight months pregnant, in need of emergency assistance, and—at the time of writing—was being held in Atlanta and facing deportation to Colombia.

“Putting a pregnant woman on a flight when she is in medical distress risks both her life and the life of her baby,” Zain Lakhani, Director of Migrant Rights and Justice at the Women’s Refugee Commission (WRC), told Jezebel in a statement. “This case exemplifies ICE’s inhumane approach to prioritizing detention and rapid deportation over the safety of pregnant individuals and their unborn children.”