• An 18-month-old girl, Amalia, was returned to ICE custody after hospitalization for serious respiratory issues.
• The lawsuit filed by her family alleges she was denied prescribed medication upon return to detention.
• Amalia's parents also faced detention during this period, leading to claims of inadequate care for families.

An 18-month-old girl, referred to as "Amalia," was recently returned to the custody of U.S. immigration authorities after being hospitalized for a life-threatening respiratory illness, according to a lawsuit filed in Texas federal court. The child had been hospitalized from January 18 to January 28 due to complications including pneumonia, COVID-19, and severe respiratory distress. Elora Mukherjee, a Columbia Law School professor representing the family, stated, “She was at the brink of dying,” highlighting the serious nature of the child's condition upon admission to the hospital, according to Reuters, Channel News Asia, and AA.

The lawsuit claims that after being released from the hospital, immigration authorities returned Amalia to the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in Texas without providing the necessary medication prescribed for her recovery. Mukherjee noted that upon her return, staff at the detention facility confiscated her nebulizer, medications, and nutritional supplements intended to aid her recovery, exacerbating her already vulnerable health condition, according to Reuters, Channel News Asia, and AA.

According to the family's filing, Amalia's parents have been living in the United States since 2024 and intended to apply for asylum. They were detained during a check-in with immigration officials on December 11, leading to their family's challenging situation. The lawsuit argues that hundreds of families and children held at Dilley face inadequate conditions, lacking essentials like sufficient drinking water and medical care, adding to the necessary outcry for their release, as highlighted by Mukherjee. This situation reflects broader criticisms of the U.S. immigration system under the previous administration and its impact on vulnerable populations, according to Reuters, Channel News Asia, and AA.