As advocates including US Rep. Joaquin Castro demanded the immediate release of a 2-month-old baby, Juan Nicolás, who has been detained with his mother at Dilley Immigration Processing Center in Dilley, Texas for close to half of his young life, the infant was rushed to a hospital early in the morning on Tuesday after suffering from respiratory issues and vomiting in recent days.
Lidia Terrezas, a reporter for Univision, spoke to officials at the Dilley detention center and reported in an Instagram video that Juan Nicolás had been transported via ambulance at about 7:00 pm Central time. KABB Fox News 29 in San Antonio reported Tuesday morning that the baby had been "treated and released."
"It's unclear what happened for them to take him to the hospital," said Terrezas. "It is my understanding that he was taken by ambulance. So at some point the decision was made that he should be taken to a hospital immediately."
The reported hospitalization came two days after the baby had "a medical episode at approximately 3:00 am Saturday," according to the San Antonio Current, and hours after Castro (D-Texas) provided an update about the infant's condition after being detained at Dilley nearly a month ago.
"He's been sick consistently," said Castro in a video posted on X. "He was vomiting, he's been having respiratory issues. They came to check on him when he was having these issues, but they couldn't take him to see a doctor because there was no doctor in the early morning hours at Dilley."
During an earlier visit to Dilley, Castro saw the facility's medical wing, complete with beds for children and families who need medical attention at the center built to hold up to 2,400 people—but witnessed no actual medical providers working there.
"These kids should be released, and these folks who have committed no crime should not be in this trailer prison," said Castro.
In his earlier medical episode, Juan Nicolás was described as "choking on his own vomit."
"This baby in particular is very vulnerable," said Castro Monday. "For those of you that are parents... you know how vulnerable kids are at the age of 2 months. And so I have been pressing [US Immigration and Customs Enforcement] hard to let Juan Nicolás go free... They are on notice that he has been sick, that they don't have the medical capacity to treat him properly, and that his life, if this continues, could be in danger."
CoreCivic, the private prison company that runs Dilley, claims the medical wing is fully staffed and offers 24/7 care, according to NBC News Channel 4 in San Antonio.
But Castro's report of the facility's failure to provide medical care is not incongruous with numerous reports of medical neglect at other detention centers where ICE is detaining tens of thousands of people, including about 170 children on any given day, on average.
Detainees have reported being unable to access medical care at facilities including Krome North Service Processing Center in Florida; North Lake Processing Center in Michigan, where an immigrant named Nenko Stanev Gantchev was found dead in his cell in December; and Camp East Montana in El Paso, Texas, where at least three people have died in 44 days recently.
El País reported on Monday on medical neglect of children at Dilley. A 5-year-old boy suffered acute appendicitis "with severe pain," according to the newspaper.
"The staff member responsible for attending to him told his mother to come back in three days if the pain continued," reported El País. "He lay on the floor in agony for hours until, after they saw him vomiting, he was finally taken to a doctor and eventually underwent surgery. After he was discharged from the hospital, it was difficult to obtain the medication he had been prescribed."
The 1997 Flores Agreement set a 20-day maximum for children to be held in immigration detention, but with Juan Nicolás detained for about three and a half weeks, according to Castro, the baby is one of hundreds of children who have been held at Dilley for at least a month.
