Maxine Dexter

U.S. Rep. Maxine Dexter will travel Friday to Texas to look into the conditions of dozens of pregnant minors detained by federal immigration authorities.

Dexter, D-Ore., announced on Thursday that she will conduct an oversight visit at the San Benito immigration center “reportedly detaining more than a dozen pregnant minors with limited access to prenatal care.”

Attorneys, including some with the American Civil Liberties Union, have previously raised concerns over the treatment of pregnant women in general under the Trump administration.

Officers have arrested an increasing number of expecting mothers, contrary to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s own protocols and federal regulations that say pregnant women should be released on bond or not be detained.

Dexter’s visit to Texas, however, will focus on pregnant teens. The acting director of the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement recently ordered that unaccompanied pregnant immigrant minors be sent to the San Benito facility in Texas – a state where they are unable to access abortion services, the announcement said.

During her visit, Dexter – a trained doctor and pulmonologist – will assess the health and safety of pregnant teens.

“As a physician and elected representative, I have a duty to see these conditions firsthand, demand answers, and make clear that no child or expecting mother should be subjected to neglect behind locked doors,” Dexter said in a statement.

She has been a fierce advocate for immigrants swept up in the Trump administration’s aggressive deportation campaign. In February, she traveled to the Dilley Immigration Processing Center near San Antonio and was successful in securing the release of a Gresham family detained the previous month at a Portland parking lot while on their way to seek urgent care for their 7-year-old daughter.

She will return to the Dilley center on Saturday to conduct an oversight visit there as well.

More than 2,100 people have been arrested by federal immigration authorities in Oregon since Trump returned to office.

“The federal government, funded by our tax dollars, is detaining children at Dilley in conditions that should appall anyone with a conscience, while the public has little visibility into how pregnant minors are being treated in San Benito,” Dexter said.

Eunice Cho, former senior counsel with the ACLU National Prison Project, said the way the Trump administration is treating pregnant women in general “should raise concerns for everybody.”

Cho, along with staffers from several other organizations, in October sent a letter to Todd Lyons, ICE’s acting director, outlining their concerns and highlighting specific cases.

“We’ve heard of women actively miscarrying, being put in active restraints, lack of adequate food and water in some circumstances,” she said. “All of these are incredibly concerning conditions for people, let alone people who are pregnant in detention.”

An ICE spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Federal regulations say certain groups of people should be released from custody on bond for “urgent humanitarian reasons” or “significant public benefit” on a case-by-case basis. Among the groups that would qualify include “women who have been medically certified as pregnant” and those with “serious medical conditions in which continued detention would not be appropriate.”

The federal regulations and ICE’s directive to comply with them have been in place for several years, Cho said.

“The agency is not following its own guidance,” she said. “And what is happening is that pregnant women are being placed in incredibly dangerous conditions as a result.”

Pregnant women also have been detained under other administrations, Cho said, however the number hasn’t been as high as under the Trump administration.

Federal officials have declined to provide data on how many pregnant women are being held nationwide, but anecdotal information indicates that the number in one facility alone approached the 12 expecting mothers held nationwide during the Biden administration at one point.

“It should shock everyone’s conscience that ICE is doing this,” she said. “It’s very clear that this problem has grown significantly worse.”