Iris Dayana Monterroso-Lemus knew something was wrong. She was pregnant, detained, and in pain—and no one would help her.
By the time ICE officials finally took her to a hospital, her baby had been dead inside her for days.
What happened next wasn’t a tragedy. It was a consequence. Of a system built on dehumanization, on silencing women, and on using detention as punishment for daring to exist without papers. She begged for help. Instead, she gave birth to a stillborn child under armed guard, alone, shackled, and without even the dignity of a phone call to the father.
She Was Five Months Pregnant. ICE Gave Her Cockroaches and Pills.
Iris Dayana Monterroso-Lemus was arrested in mid-March in Tennessee over a missed court hearing tied to a custody case. Her partner, Gary Bivens, posted bail immediately—but ICE had already placed a detainer. She was never meant to walk free.
What followed wasn’t justice—it was administrative violence disguised as procedure. ICE shuffled her across Illinois, Tennessee, and Alabama before dropping her in Louisiana’s Richwood Correctional Center. By then, she was five months pregnant and already in pain.
At Richwood, the abuse escalated. Iris says she was starving. The food was sometimes infested with cockroaches. Her medical concerns were brushed aside. No ultrasound. No prenatal care. Just twelve unidentified pills a day and a warning to wait for deportation.
“I begged them to take me to the hospital,” she said. “I told them something was wrong.”
They told her the pain was normal. That her baby was just growing. But Iris—already a mother of six—knew what real pregnancy felt like. This wasn’t it. And nobody listened.
See also: What to Do If a Loved One Is Detained by ICE: How to Locate, Contact, and Help Them
“He Was Dead Inside Me for Three Days”—And ICE Sent the Bill
On April 29, after days of pleading, Iris was finally taken to Ochsner LSU Health. It was too late. Her baby had been dead inside her womb for three days.
She delivered alone, under armed guard, denied even a phone call to her partner.
“They didn’t even let me grieve,” she said. “I had him inside me—dead—and they just watched.”
Back in Tennessee, Gary Bivens didn’t hear the news from ICE. Another detainee called him first. Then, just twenty minutes after learning of the stillbirth, a social worker asked what he wanted to do with the baby’s remains—and if he would pay to ship the ashes.
“It was like they were trying to rush it,” Gary said. “I lost my baby, and they wanted me to pay the shipping fee.”
Days later, Iris was deported. Officials handed her legal documents with no explanation, no translation, and no time. She was sent back to Guatemala—without her baby, without answers, and without care.
Now, she’s in a remote village, healing with the help of Gary and donations. Her body is still in recovery. Her grief, still raw. Her trauma, undeniable.
See also: Fake ICE Agents Arrested in Multiple States Amid Crackdown Chaos
This Isn’t an Exception. It’s the System Working as Designed.
Iris’s story isn’t isolated. Under Trump’s 2025 immigration crackdown, ICE arrests have soared—averaging 4,000 a week. Nearly 60% of detainees have no criminal record.
Nine people have died in ICE custody since January. Facilities like Richwood have been cited by DHS for unclean living conditions, restricted access to care, and systemic abuse. Pregnant women are no longer shielded from detention.
Iris’s cries for help fell on purposefully deaf ears.
What Justice Looks Like Now
Maybe it’s a name remembered. Maybe it’s her story reaching those who still believe immigration enforcement isn’t violent.
But at the very least, Iris Dayana Monterroso-Lemus deserves this: to not be erased. To not be buried under euphemisms like “detainment complications” or “medical oversight.”
She was a mother who wanted help. Instead, ICE gave her shackles and silence.
See also: From One Viral Post to a 9-Million-User ICE Raid Map: How Two Women Created a Digital Lifeline
