A Venezuelan woman detained at a North Texas immigration facility discovered she was pregnant during her intake medical exam, spent weeks without adequate prenatal care, and was hospitalized last week after heavy bleeding, only to be told her pregnancy was gone. According to her attorney, she was handcuffed to a hospital bed during her stay.
Darisbell Paola Quintero Morillo, who has been held at the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas, roughly 40 miles south of Fort Worth, did not know she was pregnant until she underwent a medical evaluation at the facility. “I haven’t seen a doctor since the exam,” she told KERA News in Spanish during a phone interview from detention. “They just did some bloodwork and I didn’t hear anything else from them.”
Quintero and her husband Gilbert Vicent entered the United States from Venezuela in April 2021 after fleeing political persecution. Both have pending asylum cases. She was detained during a routine check-in at the Dallas ICE field office.
Her attorney, Oscar Mendoza, told KERA News that Quintero had two positive pregnancy tests while in custody. Despite that, ICE said she saw a nurse practitioner on March 29 and had an OBGYN appointment scheduled for May 12. But according to Mendoza, Quintero never saw the facility doctor on April 27 as planned, and her only appointment in between was for a headache on April 22.
On Tuesday, May 6, Quintero was taken to a hospital about 15 minutes from the facility after she began bleeding heavily. She was released early the next morning. Bloodwork at the hospital showed no pregnancy. “We don’t know if she was ever pregnant or if she’s having a miscarriage,” Mendoza told KERA. “After the pregnancy test in March, she hasn’t received medical care. I think it shows the lack of care that they have.”
Mendoza told KERA that Quintero was handcuffed to the hospital bed during her stay. He said he does not know which hospital she was transported to and has not been given access to her medical records from that night. “All we know is that she’s bleeding a lot and had two positive pregnancy tests and we don’t have access to medical records from Tuesday night,” Mendoza said. “She’s very confused and doesn’t know what’s going on because she never received medical care.”
Mendoza filed a petition in federal court as well as an emergency motion requesting a quicker decision, but the judge denied the emergency motion. The government has until June to respond to the petition. “The case raises serious concerns regarding the treatment of pregnant detainees, the disregard of established parole guidance, and the broader due process implications of prolonged detention while habeas relief is pending,” Mendoza said.
In a statement to KERA, an ICE spokesperson said that pregnancy in ICE detention is exceedingly rare and that “pregnant women receive regular prenatal visits, mental health services, nutritional support, and accommodations aligned with community standards of care.” ICE did not respond to follow-up questions about the specific details of Quintero’s hospitalization or the use of handcuffs.
For her husband Gilbert Vicent, the fear has been constant. “My wife doesn’t rest well, and besides that, they don’t respond on time, which is why a lot of women die,” he told KERA. “That’s my fear, that my child will die inside there.”
Quintero’s case is one of dozens documented in 2026 by organizations including the ACLU, the Center for Reproductive Rights and Physicians for Human Rights, which have reported a pattern of inadequate medical care for pregnant women in ICE detention facilities across the country. Federal policy states that ICE should avoid detaining pregnant individuals absent extreme circumstances. The Prairieland Detention Center is operated by the GEO Group, a private prison contractor, under a contract with ICE.
As of this writing, Quintero remains in detention. Her case is pending in federal court.