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By Dan Gooding and Billal Rahman
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A 21-year-old woman who is eight months pregnant and in “serious medical distress” is facing deportation from Atlanta International Airport, her attorney told Newsweek.
Zharick Daniela Buitrago Ortiz, who fled Colombia with her family last year, is in serious medical distress, experiencing intense back and abdominal pain, according to her legal counsel.
"This is an abuse of a pregnant woman in detention," Anthony Enriquez, an attorney with the Kennedy Human Rights Center representing Buitrago, told Newsweek on Wednesday. "This is an example of ICE acting without any type of compassion for someone who is on the point of labor. And we'd like this to stop immediately."
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"On November 3, 2025, U.S. Border Patrol arrested Zharik Daniela Buitrago-Ortiz, an illegal alien from Colombia and suspected Tren de Aragua gang member who was previously illegally entered our country, was removed, and illegally reentered our country again, a felony. Pending asylum cases do not confer legal status and she was granted a voluntary departure," Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson at the Department of Homeland Security, told Newsweek.
"Pregnant women receive regular prenatal visits, mental health services, nutritional support, and accommodations aligned with community standards of care. There are no records of her being in medical distress. ICE's policy mandates that anyone staged for removal must be medically cleared. Ortiz is no exception, and she successfully boarded her removal flight today."
Buitrago arrived in the United States in November 2025 with her mother and two younger siblings seeking asylum after her father was murdered in Colombia for reporting political corruption, according to her attorney. Because she was above 18 at the time, she was separated from her family.
Enriquez said she recently learned that the father of her child was also murdered in Colombia, allegedly by the same people responsible for her father's death, the attorney said.
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The attorney said that while Buitrago's mother passed a credible fear interview and was allowed to file an asylum application, Buitrago initially did not pass and was issued an order of expedited removal. She now has a pending asylum claim as a derivative child on her mother's application. Buitrago has spent her entire time in the United States in federal custody, her attorney said.
"This is a violation of her rights to have her asylum application heard," Enriquez said.
Buitrago was initially detained in Louisiana and has since been transferred to Atlanta, her attorney said.
Enriquez said Buitrago “wanted to leave urgently, that she did not want to give birth while her baby was in ICE custody, and that she wanted help because she did not want to be separated from her baby.”
He alleges that ICE has denied her medical treatment despite her severe pain.
“She's in great pain currently,” Enriquez said.
Enriquez said that Buitrago has no criminal record in Colombia and has not had any hearings in the U.S. He said her mother, who has since been released from detention, is "distressed" over her daughter's detention. Enriquez urged authorities to halt the removal immediately.
The Trump administration has taken a far tougher stance on immigration rules over the past year, seeking to deport those without legal status, even if some have pending asylum applications.
The DHS has drastically increased ICE detention numbers and faced criticism for a rise in detainee deaths, as well as its allegedly poor treatment of pregnant women in ICE detention in recent months.
Update 1/22/26, 3:12 a.m. ET: This post has been updated with a comment from Tricia McLaughlin.
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