At 23 Weeks, She Went Into Labor After ICE Detained Her Husband

By Nick Valencia | October 13, 2025

JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA— When immigration agents detained her husband, “Yoselina” said she felt something snap inside her. She was five months pregnant.

“I started feeling pain around midnight,” she said. “My friend took me to the hospital. They told me my water had already broken. They told me my baby might not survive.”

She believes without a doubt that the shock and fear of her husband’s arrest sent her body into labor. Her son was born at 23 weeks — extremely premature, weighing just 680 grams and measuring 31 centimeters.

Tiny enough to rest in the palm of her hand. He’s been in the NICU ever since. His father has never seen him.

Yoselina told Nick Valencia News this was the second time she’s suffered tragedy in pregnancy. The first was four years ago during her journey to the United States when she said she miscarried.

She and her husband fled Nicaragua after they were targeted for opposing the government. She has asked us to conceal her last name for their safety.

Before seeking asylum in the U.S., Yoselina’s husband was part of the pro-democracy movement in Nicaragua — using his motorcycle to carry the wounded from the streets.

Her husband, a mechanic, had used his motorcycle to ferry injured protesters to safety during the pro-democracy uprisings. When police in Nicaragua caught him, they detained and tortured him — pulling out his fingernails during interrogation, she said.

When he was finally released, they fled north, seeking asylum.

Hundreds were killed in the 2018 uprising against Daniel Ortega’s government. After her husband was detained and tortured, they fled north together.

They made it to the United States and built a quiet life here, working hard and raising hopes for a safer future.

Then came the traffic stop.

It started as a registration issue — a used car they’d purchased from a private seller whose name was still on the title. Plus, her husband didn’t have a driver’s license, which was enough for immigration agents to take him into custody.

Within hours, Yoselina’s body gave out.

“They told me to stay calm, but I couldn’t. I cried all night. I begged them to save my baby.”

Born at 23 weeks, weighing just 680 grams, Yoselina’s son has spent every day of his life inside the NICU — fighting to breathe.

Her husband remains in detention at a federal facility in Georgia, awaiting a hearing. He’s never held his child.

She spends her mornings at the hospital, her afternoons on the phone, and her nights praying beside the incubator that holds her son.

“I want them to know we are human,” she told me. “My husband wasn’t doing anything wrong. And because of what they did, my baby was born fighting for his life.”

Yoselina’s voice trembles, but she said she believes God kept her baby alive for a reason. What she wants now is simple: for her husband to see their child breathe on his own.