Migrant woman who just gave birth in Tucson no longer faces 'rapid' deportation

A Guatemalan woman who just gave birth in Tucson — and who was facing a rapid deportation, with or without her U.S. citizen newborn — appears to have now been placed in normal deportation proceedings and will be given a notice to appear in immigration court, according to federal officials.

The woman, who was eight months pregnant when detained by Tucson sector border agents earlier this week, is still in federal custody and was discharged from Tucson Medical Center on Friday, two days after giving birth, according to a statement Friday afternoon from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the agency that oversees the Border Patrol.

An attorney familiar with her case said he was told the woman’s baby will remain at TMC for at least another day.

The woman was arrested earlier this week after entering the U.S. outside a port of entry near the Tres Bellotas Ranch, south of Arivaca, according to the CBP statement.

“She has not yet been formally processed and no formal proceedings have commenced,” the statement said. “Once her processing is complete and an NTA (notice to appear) is issued, she will be given the opportunity to contact an attorney.”

The CBP statement also said that under U.S. law, “there is no statutory right to an attorney in immigration proceedings until a Notice to Appear has been issued. ... At all times, agents followed the law and adhered to CBP procedures. No entitlements were denied.”

The statement appears to mark a reversal from the government’s initial stance on the Guatemalan woman’s case, as a “notice to appear” in court would not be issued to someone subject to expedited removal, which is a rapid deportation process, without a hearing before an immigration judge.

On Thursday, a CBP spokesman had told the Arizona Daily Star that the woman was facing expedited removal and would be given the choice to take her newborn with her when she was deported, or leave the baby in the U.S. As a citizen, the baby can’t be deported, the spokesman said.

Tucson attorney Luis Campos, who has offered pro-bono legal services to the woman, said he was advised Friday by a U.S. Department of Homeland Security attorney that agents would share Campos’ number with the woman and she would be permitted to call him, if she wanted to.

That’s a change from the agency’s position on Thursday, when CBP officers prevented Campos from speaking with the woman while she was recovering from giving birth at TMC, even though she had requested to speak with a lawyer.

The CBP officers, who were posted outside her hospital room, would not let Campos speak with the woman without a signed G-28 form, identifying him as her lawyer. But the officers also wouldn’t let Campos, nor hospital staff, bring her the form to sign, Campos told the Star Thursday.

After days walking through the Southern Arizona desert, the woman was apprehended by the Border Patrol earlier this week and put into detention. When she went into labor, agents transported her to TMC, Campos said.

An advocate who became aware of the woman’s situation contacted Campos Thursday, when the woman asked to speak to an attorney, Campos said.

Since the woman had been facing expedited removal, the situation was “urgent,” Campos said, as she could have been deported immediately without having a chance to pursue legal remedies that might be available to her.

“She is clearly subject to removal, but she may have viable defenses to assert if given the opportunity,” he said Thursday. “I’m asking them to put her in deportation proceedings and to release her. They have the discretion to do that, so that she can be with her baby and find accommodations” as her deportation case proceeds.

It’s not yet clear if the woman will be released from federal custody, pending her immigration hearing.

Migrants apprehended near the border — as well as those arrested in the U.S. interior who can’t prove they’ve been here for at least two years — now face rapid deportation under President Donald Trump’s expanded use of expedited removal.

Trump signed an executive order in January declaring an “invasion” at the southern border and “suspending the physical entry” of migrants until he decides the invasion is over. The order also suspended migrants’ ability to request asylum protection in the U.S.

The ACLU sued the administration in February over the asylum restrictions, saying they are illegal and risk the safety of vulnerable people seeking protection in the U.S.

Prior to CBP’s determination that the woman will get a court hearing, Tucson Mayor Regina Romero said in a Friday emailed statement that the woman’s pending rapid deportation was “the result of Trump’s unnecessarily cruel Executive Order that incorrectly declares there is an ‘invasion’ at our southern border.”

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“People in the United States, regardless of legal status, have a fundamental right to due process that has been reaffirmed by the Supreme Court as recently as April 7, 2025,” Romero said in the statement to the Star. “Denying this mother access to legal representation is both inhumane and a violation of her basic rights.

“I am deeply concerned about the consequences of this federal overreach. It is unacceptable to treat a medical facility as an extension of xenophobic policies, especially when a newborn’s health and safety are at stake. I urge the federal government, and its agencies, to act with compassion and respect for due process,” the mayor said.

TMC declined to comment on the situation to the Star, via a spokesman, on Friday.

‘Willing to help’

Campos said he believes the Border Patrol should have taken the woman directly to the hospital after her arrest, instead of detaining her for processing, considering her advanced pregnancy and her time spent exposed to the elements while traveling through the desert.

The Star spoke Thursday with a Tennessee-based friend of the woman, who said he met the woman a few years ago while traveling with his parents, who are pastors, as they ministered in Guatemala.

The Star is identifying the friend only by his last name, Gaspar, because he said his parents — who are lawful permanent residents — are still in the process of attaining their U.S. citizenship. Even immigrants with legal status have been targeted by the Trump administration amid its mass-deportation campaign.

Gaspar, who is a U.S. citizen, stayed in touch with the woman over the years through Facebook, and he said they last corresponded a few weeks ago.

Gaspar said if the woman were to be released, pending her deportation proceedings, he and his wife are willing to host her, and her baby, in their home as she waits for her immigration case to proceed. He said his parents raised him to give back to the community, especially because they needed that help themselves after they first immigrated to the U.S. decades ago, from Guatemala.

“A good friend of ours helped out my parents when they came here 30 years ago,” he said. “We’re willing to help.”

Guatemala is experiencing high levels of violence now, Gaspar said, and that’s why his friend left her home country.

He has spoken with her parents in Guatemala to tell them their daughter gave birth in Tucson and is okay; her parents said they’re also planning to leave their country due to the violence, Gaspar said.

Gaspar said his biggest fear is that his friend will be sent back to unsafe conditions in Guatemala with her newborn.

“Maybe they’d deport both of them back, and they don’t have anywhere to go. The violence over there in Guatemala, it’s really peaked,” he said.

He said he’s “really sad” and also angered by DHS officials’ refusal to let her speak to a lawyer while in the hospital.

“That makes me feel awful,” he said. “Honestly, she has the right to an attorney and they’re taking that right away from her.”

Trump has vowed to end birthright citizenship in the U.S., which under the 14th Amendment automatically grants citizenship to children born on U.S. soil, regardless of their parents’ immigration status.

Three U.S. District Courts have halted Trump’s January executive order ending birthright citizenship for U.S.-born children whose parents are in the country unlawfully. But the Supreme Court has agreed to hear arguments on the issue in May.