People travel through Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on Nov. 7, 2025 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Megan Varner/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials placed an asylum seeker who is eight months pregnant on a deportation flight Wednesday afternoon, even though she was in medical distress, her attorneys told States Newsroom.

ICE officials and the Department of Homeland Security responded to States Newsroom’s requests for comment, but did not answer questions about the specific case. 

Zharick Daniela Buitrago Ortiz, a 21-year-old national of Colombia, has a pending asylum case, said one of her attorneys, Nora Ahmed, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana. Buitrago Ortiz was also represented by the Robert & Ethel Kennedy Human Rights Center. 

As an asylum seeker, she was going through the credible fear process, a key step to establish an immigrant’s claim for asylum if they can show a fear of persecution or torture in their home country. Asylum seekers are typically allowed to live in the United States while their case proceeds.

Buitrago Ortiz is between 32 and 33 weeks pregnant and was deported from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Airport officials did not respond to States Newsroom’s request for comment. 

Ahmed said flying late in pregnancy can have serious risks. 

Buitrago Ortiz earlier had been detained in a center in Louisiana. She was placed by ICE on a flight from there to Atlanta prior to her removal to Colombia, her attorneys said.

As she waited for the flight to Colombia, Buitrago Ortiz experienced intense, shooting pain in her back and abdomen, according to her attorneys. They said they were also concerned about the risk to her health and that of her unborn child if she was placed on the flight, which is roughly five hours nonstop. 

ICE generally has a policy to not detain immigrants who are pregnant unless there are exceptional circumstances. Democrats in Congress have raised concerns about reports of ICE detainment of pregnant immigrants, and urged ICE acting Director Todd Lyons to order the release of any immigrants who were pregnant from ICE detention facilities. 

Travel during pregnancy can be risky past 28 weeks and can increase the chances of going into labor, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. 

Ahmed said as recently as Jan. 18, there had been no indication that Buitrago Ortiz would be removed from the United States. 

Ahmed said Buitrago Ortiz came to the U.S. with her family. Her mother received a favorable credible fear interview, meaning an immigration official believed there was a possibility of harm if she returned to her home country. 

The family arrived in El Paso, Texas, in early November, according to Buitrago Ortiz’s mother, who asked not to be named for fear of harming her own asylum case.

Additionally, Ahmed said the father of Buitrago Ortiz’s child was murdered earlier this month in Colombia. 

“It’s important that we understand that there is a woman in medical distress,” Ahmed said. “The clock is ticking.” 

ABBOTSFORD, B.C. – Gatekeeper Systems Inc. (“Gatekeeper” or the “Company”) (TSXV:GSI) (OTC:GKPRF), a leader in video and data solutions for school buses, public transit and smart cities, is pleased to announce the appointment of industry professional Hamish Dobson to its Board of Directors as an independent director.

Mr. Dobson has extensive security industry experience with senior leadership roles in engineering and product management at Motorola Solutions, a global leader in public safety and enterprise security solutions, and Avigilon prior to its acquisition by Motorola Solutions in 2018. Most recently, Hamish was Corporate Vice President of Video Security and Access Control for Motorola Solutions, where he led a worldwide engineering team who delivered AI-powered physical security solutions for the global market. Doug Dyment, Gatekeeper’s President and CEO commented, “We are very happy to have Hamish join our Board of Directors. His extensive experience in video analytics, scaling product teams, and product-led growth strategies will be a valued addition to our Board as we execute on our platform-as-a-service (PaaS)
product strategy”

Hamish Dobson commented, “I have followed Gatekeeper’s impressive growth in transit and school bus video solutions for several years and I look forward to contributing my support as director.” In conjunction with the appointment, the Company has granted 100,000 incentive stock options to Mr. Dobson, exercisable at $2.53 for a term of 5 years from the date of grant. The stock options are subject to vesting conditions and approval of the TSX Venture Exchange.

About Gatekeeper Systems Inc.
Gatekeeper is a leading provider of video and data solutions for a safer transportation environment for children, passengers, and drivers on public transportation fleets. Gatekeeper has provided solutions to more than 60 transit agencies and 3,500 school districts throughout North America and has installed more than 63,000 Mobile Data Collectors for customers which record video and data daily from over 200,000 onboard devices. The Company’s hosted software applications facilitate AI-assisted video analytics for incident management and storage. The Company’s Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) business model is centered around the Mobile Data Collectors, which are the cornerstone of its data company transformation. www.gatekeeper-systems.com

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