A Cuban doctor was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Houston on Wednesday after arriving for what her family says she believed would be a routine appointment connected to her asylum case.
Dr. Lazara Campos Cabrera, 29, had been living in South Florida after leaving Holguín, Cuba, in 2021. According to her cousin, Marianne Ramirez, she entered the United States with an I-220A form — a document the family believes allows immigrants to remain in the country while their asylum cases proceed.
“This is not a criminal. This is a person who doesn’t have any criminal record or felony,” Ramirez said. “She’s a young foreign physician who came here seeking freedom from that regime and seeking opportunity.”
Campos Cabrera later relocated to Houston with her 1-year-old daughter, Antonella Diaz Campo, who was born with Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome and Silver-Russell syndrome, two rare genetic disorders. Ramirez said Antonella lives attached to a ventilator, suffers from seizures and receives nutrition through a feeding tube.
The family says Antonella’s mother is her primary caregiver — and now she is in ICE custody at the Montgomery Processing Center in Texas.
In a video shared with NBC6, Campos Cabrera’s mother can be seen distraught and pleading in Spanish for her daughter’s release, saying the baby cannot be relocated because of her fragile medical condition.
“The biggest fear is that she may be removed from the country,” Ramirez said. “The baby would be separated from her mother, and she cannot move to any other country because of her medical conditions.”
The family is calling for a full review of Campos Cabrera’s case. NBC6 has reached out to ICE for comment and is awaiting a response.
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