Physician-Lawmaker Maxine Dexter to Inspect Texas Immigration Facilities Holding Pregnant Teens, Families

WASHINGTON, DC- Today, Congresswoman Maxine Dexter, M.D. (OR-03), who spent twenty years as a critical care physician and pulmonologist, announced she is traveling to Texas to conduct oversight at two immigration facilities notorious for health violations against pregnant teens, families, and children.

"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," said Rep. Dexter. "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."

On Friday, Dexter will go to a facility in San Benito reportedly detaining more than a dozen pregnant minors with limited access to prenatal care. Recently, the acting director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) directed unaccompanied pregnant immigrant children be sent to this single facility in a state where, notably, they are unable to access abortion services. Dexter will conduct oversight to assess the health and safety of individuals in detention.

On Saturday, Dexter will return to the Dilley Immigration Processing Center, the largest child and family detention facility in the nation, to conduct oversight amid continued reports of contaminated food, water, and inadequate access to education and medical care, including mental healthcare.

Dexter was previously denied entry to Dilley when she traveled to advocate for a seven-year-old Oregonian detained outside an urgent care clinic. While she was successful in releasing the child and her family, Dexter was given shifting and contradictory explanations as to why she could not go inside the facility-leaving pressing oversight questions unanswered.

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