Univision journalist Lidia Terrazas crossed into Mexico and located 2-month-old Juan Nicolás and his family within hours of their deportation. She later posted a photo with the infant on Instagram, underscoring how quickly a case that began inside a Texas family detention center moved from medical crisis to removal from the United States.
Juan Nicolás had spent more than three weeks at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas, a facility operated by the private prison contractor CoreCivic under federal contract. He was detained with his mother, his father, and his 16-month-old sister. The infant’s detention ended after he was hospitalized for respiratory issues and vomiting, then returned to the facility before being deported to Mexico, according to Rep. Joaquin Castro, a Texas Democrat who said he had been pressing the Trump administration to release the family.
“After a discussion with their attorney, I have confirmed that Juan, his 16-month-old sister, his mom, and his dad have been deported,” Castro said. He added that the family was deported with limited funds available to them. “According to their attorney, ICE deported the family with only the money that they had in their commissary a total of $190.” Castro described the deportation as unnecessary given the infant’s condition. “To unnecessarily deport a sick baby and his entire family is heinous.”
The sequence described by Castro and reported from inside the facility placed the hospitalization immediately before the deportation. Footage and updates shared by Castro’s office described the infant’s condition worsening prior to the hospital transfer, including that the child “had become unresponsive at some point before being hospitalized, then was discharged around midnight and brought back to Dilley before removal.” Officials did not immediately confirm when the family was removed or the location to which they were taken.
Earlier in the day, Castro said Juan’s mother told him the baby is suffering from bronchitis, and he warned that removal could put the child at further risk. “We are all deeply concerned that Juan and his mom will be deported and that Juan’s health will continue to deteriorate,” Castro wrote Tuesday afternoon. “His life is in danger because of ICE’s monstrous cruelty.”
Accounts from journalists and advocates have sharpened focus on the conditions under which infants and young children are being held at Dilley, including allegations about sanitation, water access for formula, and the handling of pediatric illness. Migrant Insider’s Pablo Manríquez described the facility environment in terms that connected reported conditions to the infant’s respiratory illness. Juan Nicolás “has been fighting respiratory illness in a facility where measles recently walked through the door, where mothers report struggling to get clean water for formula, where sick children cycle through ibuprofen and basic antibiotics until they deteriorate badly enough that someone finally calls an ambulance,” Manríquez wrote.
Manríquez tied that description to the emergency response preceding the hospital visit. “Which is what happened Monday night. An ambulance came,” he wrote. “It was, depending on how you look at it, either a rescue or an admission of guilt.”
The case has also landed amid a broader expansion in child detention during President Donald Trump’s second term. The number of children held in ICE detention has “skyrocketed” and risen more than sixfold. A recent analysis by The Marshall Project found that “on some days, ICE held 400 children or more.” The scale has renewed questions about the capacity of detention centers to provide pediatric care, particularly when families include newborns and infants.
Castro’s own visit to Dilley added another flashpoint. After spending more than two hours inside the facility last month, he said, “They are literally being treated as prisoners.” He added, “This is a monstrous machine.”
After confirming the deportation, Castro said his office remained in contact with the family and was seeking details about ICE’s decisions and the family’s safety. “My staff and I are in contact with Juan’s family,” he wrote. “We are laser-focused on tracking them down, holding ICE accountable for this monstrous action, demanding specific details on their whereabouts and wellbeing, and ensuring their safety.”
DHS and CoreCivic have defended the conditions and medical care provided in immigration detention. DHS has said detainees receive proper medical care and that families are provided food, water, and basic necessities. CoreCivic has said health and safety are top priorities, that Dilley is subject to multiple layers of oversight, and that its medical staff meets high standards while working with local hospitals for specialized needs. DHS has also said detained parents may choose whether their families are deported together or have children placed with another caregiver.
At the same time, reporting and court filings have described contested cases involving pediatric care at Dilley. One set of filings described a case involving an 18-month-old child, Amalia, who was hospitalized for life-threatening respiratory failure. After 10 days in a San Antonio children’s hospital, the child was returned to detention and was initially denied prescribed medication, according to filings by Columbia Law School’s Immigrants’ Rights Clinic. Elora Mukherjee, professor and director of the clinic, described the allegation in an interview: “After baby Amalia had been hospitalized for 10 days, ICE thought this baby should be returned to Dilley, where she was denied access to the medicines that the hospital doctors told her she needed. It is so outrageous.”
DHS disputed that account. DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin denied that medication was withheld and said the child received appropriate care upon return to the facility. In a statement, McLaughlin said: “[The child] was in the medical unit and received proper treatment and prescribed medicines.”
The policy backdrop to these disputes has shifted across administrations. The Biden administration ended family detention in 2021, but the federal government later resumed the practice under President Donald Trump, prompting renewed scrutiny of Dilley’s role and capacity as family detention expands.
For Juan Nicolás and his family, the questions have centered on how a sick infant moved from detention to hospitalization, back into custody, and then out of the country. The deportation left the family with limited commissary funds, according to Castro’s account of what their attorney reported, and it remained unclear at the time of reporting where and when ICE removed the family.
“To unnecessarily deport a sick baby and his entire family is heinous.”
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