ICE scandal: Baby nearly died and was returned to the facility without her medication, according to this lawsuit

Widespread outrage was sparked after NBC reported that a federal lawsuit had been filed describing how a migrant family’s 18-month-old daughter, identified as Amalia, was sent back to an ICE detention center where agents withheld the medications doctors had prescribed to her following a serious hospitalization for respiratory illness.

The events, presented this weekend in a federal court in Texas, describe a terrifying mix of medical and bureaucratic failures. Amalia, who had been detained with her parents since last December at the Dilley Processing Center, became critically ill in early January with a high fever, difficulty breathing, vomiting, and diarrhea.

After multiple unsuccessful attempts to obtain care inside the facility, she was transferred on January 18 to a hospital in San Antonio. There, doctors diagnosed her with pneumonia, COVID-19, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and viral bronchitis, conditions that left her “on the brink of death.”

ICE scandal: baby nearly dies…

After ten days on oxygen and under intensive medical care, doctors discharged Amalia with detailed instructions and specific medications for her recovery, including a nebulizer and albuterol treatment.

However, in what the lawsuit describes as an irresponsible and dangerous act, ICE returned her to the detention center, where staff allegedly confiscated her medications and the nutritional supplements doctors had recommended, according to the family’s attorneys.

Elora Mukherjee, the family’s attorney and a professor of immigration law, said during a press conference after filing the lawsuit that the facility not only ignored medical directives, but it placed this baby at risk all over again. She explained that this is not an isolated incident, that it is a systemic failure to protect families who are fleeing crises and seeking asylum.

The lawsuit further states that after returning to detention, the family was forced to wait for hours in outdoor lines to request treatment or medication, only to be repeatedly turned away. Amalia, who had already lost nearly 10 percent of her body weight during her illness, was finally released on February 6 after attorneys filed an emergency legal petition.

From Washington, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees ICE, denied the allegations of misconduct. In an official statement, the agency said, “it is a longstanding practice to provide comprehensive medical care from the moment an alien enters ICE custody.”

Nevertheless, tensions between authorities and human rights advocates continue to grow as more testimonies and lawsuits point to possible negligence in family detention centers.

The case has reignited the debate over the treatment of children in immigration custody, at a time when advocates and civil rights organizations have raised concerns about patterns of inadequate care and poor conditions at Dilley and similar facilities.

For Amalia’s family, who are seeking legal asylum in the United States after fleeing threats in their home country of Venezuela, the ordeal left not only physical consequences, but also a lawsuit that now challenges the practices of the federal agency.

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