Pregnant U.S. Citizen Detained by ICE in Hospital Incident Sparks Outrage

Cary López Alvarado, a 28-year-old U.S. citizen who is nine months pregnant, was recently arrested by federal immigration officers in Hawthorne, California. This was a very stressful scenario for her.

The event happened on June 8, barely a week before her due date. It has made people very worried about how immigration officials handle pregnant women. López Alvarado was at work when officials from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) showed up.

They were following a white pickup truck that was carrying her undocumented partner and a co-worker. Agents in marked cars stopped her and her cousin, who is also a U.S. citizen, from letting the men into the parking lot.

López Alvarado said that the agents needed a warrant to enter the private property, which led to a tense standoff. López Alvarado said that she lost her footing when agents tried to push her away from the door during the fight. “I was scared they were going to hurt me,” she said, adding that she bent forward to cover her tummy without thinking about it.

Even though she kept saying she was a U.S. citizen, the agents arrested her and said she was getting in the way of their work. López Alvarado’s video shows her begging the agents to leave the area and pointing out that it was private property.

One officer said she was getting in the way of an arrest, but she firmly said she would not move. In the end, she and her partner, cousin, and co-worker were all taken into custody. After being released, López Alvarado started to have intense sensations in her stomach and had to go to the hospital for monitoring.

Doctors are keeping a careful eye on her and her unborn child’s health. She was upset that she didn’t get any paperwork or citations about the arrest, which showed how chaotic the incident was.

This event has led to conversations regarding the harsh methods used by immigration enforcement, especially during the Trump administration, which has put tough immigration laws first. López Alvarado’s case highlights the possible risks encountered by pregnant women in such situations, since numerous individuals have claimed insufficient medical care while imprisonment. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has not yet said anything regarding López Alvarado’s case, which leaves a lot of issues about how citizens are treated during immigration enforcement efforts.