A pregnant woman wandered the desert for days before Border Patrol detained her. Now with a newborn, she faces deportation

By Julia Vargas Jones, Dalia Faheid and Norma Galeana, CNN

(CNN) — A Guatemalan woman who had just given birth at an Arizona hospital was swiftly taken into US Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody before being released on Saturday as she faces deportation proceedings.

The woman, who attorneys identified only by her first name, Erika, had been wandering in the Arizona desert alone for two days while eight months pregnant before being detained by US Customs and Border Protection agents on Monday, her attorney Luis Campos told CNN.

She had crossed into the United States from Mexico between ports of entry near Tres Bellotas Ranch, about 74 miles southwest of Tucson, Arizona, according to a CBP spokesperson.

Erika then gave birth at Tucson Medical Center on Wednesday night, two days after she was taken into custody, with federal agents posted outside of her hospital room.

President Donald Trump launched a flurry of immigration policies when he took office in January, to make good on campaign promises to remove undocumented immigrants from the country and slow legal immigration. Those efforts have included targeting foreign students, undocumented workers and those crossing the Southern border.

Amid the immigration crackdown, the Trump administration also reversed a longstanding policy directing immigration agents to sensitive locations such as churches, schools and hospitals, and recently left mothers to be deported with their children who are US citizens.

Campos tells CNN he had not been able to speak with Erika for days and was denied access to the hospital, which he said violated her Fifth Amendment right to counsel. He said he also was not allowed to attain her signature on a G-28 form, which is used to notify immigration authorities when an attorney is representing a client in an immigration case, he said.

“There was no regard for due process,” Campos said.

Erika initially faced expedited removal – a process allowing federal agents to quickly deport individuals – before eventually being issued a Notice to Appear on Friday, allowing her to appear before an immigration judge, according to Campos.

He says the pressure on the federal authorities from the local community was immense.

“They shifted their position, and they did it under pressure,” Campos told CNN, who will be meeting his client, now free in Phoenix.

A Customs and Border Patrol spokesperson said the woman crossed into the US from Mexico illegally. Before she was issued a Notice to Appear, she had no statutory right to an attorney in immigration proceedings, the CBP spokesperson said. Once the notice was issued, she was given the opportunity to speak with her attorney, the spokesperson said.

“At all times, agents followed the law and adhered to CBP procedures,” the spokesperson said. “No entitlements were denied.”

Tim Bentley, a spokesperson for Tucson Medical Center, said he had no comment on the situation as privacy laws prevent the hospital from sharing patient information. CNN has also reached out to the office of Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs for comment.

“The office is actively engaging with federal and local officials to gather further information,” Hobbs’ office said in a statement to CNN affiliate KOLD. “While she supports securing the border, Governor Hobbs has been clear in her opposition to inhumane immigration enforcement practices. The governor will continue fighting to protect the constitutional rights of every Arizonan and keep our communities safe.”

Custody of the woman was transferred to ICE on Saturday morning, according to the CBP spokesperson. “The child remains with the mother,” the spokesperson said.

Still, Campos waited days to hear whether she would be released before hearing the news later that day and calling Ericka, who “has confirmed that she and her baby are fine.” Campos said none of this would have happened “if things had been done in a humane way from the very beginning.”

Campos said his client is seeking asylum in the US due to her fear of returning to violence in Guatemala. Local authorities were unwilling or unable to help her, so she had no option but to flee the country, he said. The next step in her case should be a credible fear interview, when she will be allowed to make her asylum case, he added.

“That’s what we wanted from the very beginning … a simple opportunity to appear before an impartial decision maker, an immigration judge, where she’s allowed to provide evidence to sustain her claim, provide testimony, particularly provide witnesses to also corroborate her version of the events, to have an attorney in those proceedings,” he said.

While immigration officials said it was Erika’s choice whether she would bring her US citizen newborn with her to Guatemala, Campos said it is “clearly no choice at all” because she does not have family or friends in the US.

“Parents are asked if they want to be removed with their children or CBP will place the children with someone the parent designates. DHS takes its responsibility to protect children seriously and will continue to work with federal law enforcement to ensure that children are safe and protected,” a CBP spokesperson told CNN.

But Campos says the child could face dangerous conditions. “Given that the terrible prospect of the violence she faced in the home country, we would be exposing a US citizen child newborn to that same kind of threat,” he said.

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