Elora Mukherjee

Sure.

Thank you so much for having me on, Jen.

So we needed to file a federal habeas petition to secure the release of baby Amalia and her parents.

That should never have been necessary.

There was no reason at all why baby Amalia and her parents were detained.

There's no justification for it.

They entered the United States lawfully.

They did everything right.

They showed up for all of their immigration check-ins.

They complied with every aspect of the law.

And they were taken into custody when they did exactly what they were supposed to do, which is show up for an immigration check in.

And after baby Amalia received hospitalized, was hospitalized for 10 days, receiving specialized treatments.

ICE officials should never have returned her to the Dilley facility, where she was exposed to many viruses in the congregate facility, where hundreds of children and families are being detained, and where there has been a measles outbreak, and where she was denied the medication that she was prescribed by the hospital, both the nebulizer and albuterol medication.

And only after we filed a federal habeas petition did ICE officials release her and her parents.

Luckily, she is now safe.

She is recovering, and her and her family are doing better.

But the trauma of this experience will be with them for a lifetime, especially for her parents.

They were terrified that Amalia would die at the Dilley Detention Center, and she nearly died there.

Life inside Delhi is extremely difficult.

It is a prison for children, for toddlers, for babies.