Pregnant woman deported from Atlanta despite severe pain, advocates say

A pregnant woman was deported last week despite having severe pain in her back and abdomen, according to the human rights group representing her.

Zharick Daniela Buitrago Ortiz, a 21-year-old Colombian woman, was placed on a deportation flight out of Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson airport and was allegedly denied medical care by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The Kennedy Human Rights Center, representing Ortiz, filed a petition with the federal court in Atlanta to stop the deportation, but the order from the judge came around three hours too late. The flight had already left.

Ortiz crossed the U.S.-Mexico border in November seeking asylum, but Anthony Enriquez, vice president of U.S. advocacy and litigation at the Kennedy Human Rights Center, told the AJC that federal officials detained Ortiz over alleged affiliation with the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.

“Using Tren de Aragua as a boogeyman to deport eight-month-pregnant women in medical distress is farcical,” Enriquez said. “Americans see through the government’s transparent attempts to deflect from its cruel and dangerous treatment of vulnerable people. Enough is enough.”

Kennedy Center officials told the AJC that Ortiz sought medical care in Columbia Friday morning, but they had no update about the condition of Ortiz or her baby.