Family, attorney denied access to hospitalized asylum seeker

“Requests by family members to visit ICE detainees who have been hospitalized are permitted but must be approved in advance with ICE and the appropriate consulate,” the agency wrote in the statement.

Local attorneys working with Kasdan’s office said Tuesday that a representative with the Salvadoran consulate of Dallas had been in touch with the family and that ICE officials had said the woman will be moved to a Dallas hospital in the coming days to receive treatment.

Zuniga said she located Beltran Hernandez at Texas Health Huguley Hospital outside Fort Worth a few days after she was admitted. She said she had a brief conversation with the woman on Feb. 13, when Beltran Hernandez said she had been diagnosed with a brain tumour and was being lined up for surgery.

Five days later, she said the woman spoke briefly to her mother on the phone and had forgotten details, including the names of her lawyers she had worked with for 13 months on her asylum case.

“It was clear that she had deteriorated in that time. She sounded groggy and she wasn’t remembering things. We became even more concerned,” Zuniga said.

A family friend and a local attorney were both turned away quickly by ICE agents posted at Beltran Hernandez’s room, Zuniga said. The local attorney called the hospital and Texas ICE officials to ask how to get access to the woman, but was given conflicting information.

Zuniga said the attention to Beltran Hernandez’s case Tuesday had started to move things in a positive direction. She said the woman is seeking asylum for multiple reasons, including domestic violence allegations and other threats to her safety.

The Associated Press

by Canadian Press

Family, attorney denied access to hospitalized asylum seeker

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