From crossing the desert to the delivery room: How Erika avoided, for now, being deported and separated from her newborn

Eight months pregnant, Erika spent two days wandering alone in the Arizona desert after illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. Under direct sunlight and temperatures exceeding 80 degrees Fahrenheit, the 24-year-old Guatemalan carried only a bottle of water. Just when she thought she would die there, she was found and detained by immigration authorities on April 28. Two days later, she gave birth in a Tucson hospital with federal agents stationed outside her room. Immediately after giving birth, the young woman learned she would be deported and was told she would have to decide between abandoning her newborn daughter or taking her with her.

However, thanks to pressure from the state governor and her lawyer, Erika managed to stop her deportation and will remain with her baby while she defends her asylum claim. She has been spared — for now — the ordeal that other migrant mothers have endured in recent weeks, as the Donald Trump administration focuses on deporting entire families as part of its campaign of mass expulsions. Since February, the government has deported at least three families with children born in the United States who, like Erika’s baby, are therefore U.S. citizens.

The first reported case involved a 10-year-old American girl who was deported to Mexico in February along with four siblings — three of them also citizens — and her parents, both of whom are undocumented immigrants. The family was detained in Texas on their way to an urgent medical appointment for the little girl, who is recovering from brain cancer surgery. After about 24 hours of detention, the parents had no choice but to agree to have their children deported with them to avoid being separated.

At the end of April, it was learned that two more families had been deported, this time from Louisiana to Honduras: a pregnant woman with her two-year-old daughter, and another mother with her two sons, ages four and seven. The four-year-old boy also suffered from cancer, for which he was receiving treatment in the United States. He was sent to the Central American country without his medication and without being able to consult with his doctors. The government maintains that both mothers chose to take their children with them; however, they have reported that they were given no other option.

At the same time, Trump has begun separating families — a practice he already employed during his first term — with children born on U.S. soil. A few weeks ago, a Cuban migrant was deported back to the island without her daughter, despite the woman’s request that the child be expelled with her. Hers, like all the aforementioned cases, was an expedited expulsion, a process that allows authorities to quickly deport people without first going through immigration court.

It’s the same process Erika faced last week. After being detained in the Arizona desert, the Guatemalan was evaluated by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents and transferred to a Tucson hospital. Doctors induced labor on Wednesday, and after giving birth, she was separated from her baby. She was released and returned to CBP custody for deportation while her daughter remained in the hospital.

But this time, perhaps because two mothers in very similar situations had been deported just days earlier, Erika’s case quickly garnered the attention of the local press and politicians, especially after her lawyer, Luis Campos, reported that federal authorities were not allowing him to meet with her and that she was being “kidnapped.”

From Guatemala, Erika’s mother contacted Campos to represent her and help her apply for asylum. However, when the lawyer went to the hospital to see her, several agents physically blocked his way, demanding that he present an official form identifying him as her attorney, he told the Arizona Daily Star. Campos had the document with him and only needed her signature, but the agents told him that neither he nor any hospital staff would be allowed into the room for Erika to sign it.

While Erika remains “incommunicado,” according to her lawyer, Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, has contacted federal and local officials to inquire about her well-being and that of her baby. “While Gov. Hobbs supports securing the border, she has been clear in her opposition to inhumane immigration enforcement practices,” her spokesperson posted on social media Friday.

That same day, immigration authorities reversed course. Instead of deporting her through the fast-track procedure, they decided to subject her to the normal removal process and gave her a date to appear before an immigration court, where she could defend herself with the help of her attorney.

“They changed their minds and did it under pressure,” Campos told CNN about his client’s case. The lawyer maintains that the public support Erika received and the outcry surrounding what was happening to her were key in avoiding her deportation. There were several protests outside the hospital where she gave birth, as well as a wave of support online and on social media.

Erika and her daughter were reunited on Saturday after being placed in the care of a non-governmental organization in Phoenix. Now, the young woman will attempt to apply for asylum after fleeing a violent situation in Guatemala. The next step in her case is a credible fear interview, in which she must demonstrate the reasons why she cannot return to her home country.

“That’s what we wanted from the beginning,” Campos told CNN. “A simple opportunity to appear before an impartial judge, an immigration judge, where she’s allowed to provide evidence to support her claim, to testify, to provide witnesses to corroborate her version of events, and to have an attorney in that proceeding.”

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