A 2-month-old baby detained at Dilley’s South Texas Family Residential Center has fallen ill and has been described as “choking on his own vomit,” according to Univision reporter Lidia Terrazas.
The child had a medical episode at approximately 3 a.m. Saturday, Terrazas reported in an Instagram video after speaking with the infant’s mother.
“His life is in danger,” U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro said in a live video shared to Instagram Monday afternoon about the child, named Juan Nicolás.
In addition to vomiting, Castro said the baby was “having respiratory issues.”
Nicolás has been detained at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility about an hour southwest of San Antonio for more than three weeks, or approximately half of his young life, according to Castro.
The congressman first learned of the youngest detainee at Dilley when visiting the facility on Jan. 28. At the time, he said the baby had been in the facility for four or five days.
“An infant’s immune system doesn’t mature until they’re about two to three months old,” pediatrician Dr. Camille Sabella told the Cleveland Clinic in a report about the development of immune systems in newborn babies.
“This baby in particular is very vulnerable,” Castro added in his live video.
The baby, already vulnerable to the many germs that may circulate in confined carceral setting, is made even more vulnerable thanks to a lack of on-site medical care, Castro says.
“They couldn’t take him to a doctor, because there weren’t any doctors in the early morning hours at Dilley,” Castro said in the clip, adding that when he toured the medical wing on his visit, no staff were present inside.
“They are on notice that this baby is sick and they don’t have the medical capacity to care for him,” Castro said.
“I have been pressing ICE hard to let Juan Nicolás go free,” Castro added.
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