Oregon Congresswoman Maxine Dexter was denied access Thursday to the Texas immigration detention facility where 7-year-old Diana Crespo is being held. But Dexter, D-Portland, plans to return Friday to bring the girl and her family home to Oregon.

The Crespo-Gonzalez family has been held at the South Texas Family Residential Facility since they were detained in Portland Jan. 16. They were apprehended while seeking medical care for Diana’s nosebleed that wouldn’t stop. Their arrest marked one of the first known instances of an entire family being detained by immigration officials in Oregon, according to the Portland Immigrants Rights Coalition.

Dexter made the trip to Texas to see the Crespo-Gonzalez family after inquiring about the family’s detention and in particular about Diana’s wellbeing. Just days after their arrival at the detention center, Diana reportedly contracted a fever and is only eating bread with mayonnaise.

“We have tickets that we’ve purchased for this family to come home with us [Friday] night, and I have every intention of bringing them home with me,” Dexter told OPB. “There’s no legal reason for them to be in custody and they’re my constituents and I’d like to take them home.”

Members of Congress have some oversight authority over federal immigration detention and Dexter registered her visit seven days in advance, in accordance with Department of Homeland Security rules. But Dexter said she was not allowed into the detention center when she arrived in Dilley, Texas on Thursday.

DHS reported Sunday that two detainees at the facility had contracted measles. As a result, Dexter said she and her team were prepared to show proof of their measles vaccination status and assume responsibility for risks associated with entering the facility. Before they reached the facility’s entrance however, a detention center employee told them they would not be allowed to enter — but not because of the measles outbreak.

The employee told her they were not concerned about measles risks as there were “no active cases” but did not provide another justification for the denial. According to Dexter, they were told they would receive an email explaining why they were denied. When Dexter spoke to OPB Thursday evening, she said she had not received that email.

DHS has not responded to multiple questions about its handling of the measles cases sent by OPB.

With no explanation of why she was denied entry, Dexter said she believes it is because “they know the public would be horrified to see the truth.”

Federal law allows members of Congress to conduct oversight visits at immigration detention facilities. Earlier this week, a judge ruled that DHS’s policy requiring lawmakers to give seven days notice for such visits likely violates the law.

Dexter said the employees at the Dilley detention center told her she had been cleared for a visit at a separate detention center on Friday. The same protocols were followed when giving notice at both facilities, her office said.

The congresswoman argued there is “zero reason” for the Crespo-Gonzalez family to be in detention. Dexter and a close friend of the family told OPB the family has a pending asylum application with a court date set for 2028.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has not responded to multiple inquiries about the reasoning for the family’s arrest. Isa Peña, director of strategy at Innovation Law Lab, which is representing the Crespo-Gonzalez family’s immigration case, said the family came to the United States through CBP One, an app released under the Biden administration to facilitate asylum applications. The family filed for asylum in a timely manner, according to Peña.

While the Biden administration encouraged immigrants to make appointments for asylum applications using the app, the Trump administration nixed the app last year and unilaterally canceled the status of thousands of immigrants who had used it. A lawsuit over the program’s cancellation is playing out in a Massachusetts federal court.

Dexter also mentioned a 1997 agreement between the federal government and representatives of a 15-year-old girl from El Salvador, called the Flores Settlement, which outlines the standards for children in immigration detention. Flores stipulates that children cannot be held in detention for more than 20 days. Friday will mark the Crespo-Gonzalez family’s 21st day in detention.

Though in the past year it has become increasingly common for children to be held in detention for more than 20 days, federal judges have twice in the past seven years denied attempts by both Trump administrations to undo the settlement — first in 2019 and most recently in August.

A recent analysis by the Marshall Project found that in 2025 more than 1,300 kids were held in detention for more than 20 days.

Asked what she would do if immigration officials refused to let her see the Crespo-Gonzalez family again Friday, or refuse to let her take them home, Dexter said, “We should absolutely push back with everything we can because this family has had every right taken from them and we have to make this right.”

She also said it was her legal obligation as a member of Congress to perform this oversight.

Earlier this month, Dexter’s colleague U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, a Democrat from Texas, escorted 5-year-old Liam Ramos and his father home to Minnesota from the Dilley detention center. He did so after a judge ordered the pair’s release in a scathing rebuke of the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement tactics.

It does not appear that a judge has issued a similar order demanding the release of the Crespo-Gonzalez family. Peña expressed gratitude to Oregon’s elected leaders “for advocating for their release and safe return,” and said they were “working hard with a team of people to ensure their release as quickly as possible.”

Peña declined to comment further on the details of the case, citing attorney-client privilege.

Dexter said it was time for the country to find its moral compass.

“If children being imprisoned without access to clean drinking water, good food, places to sleep and play and education — if that’s not enough to make us all outraged, I think we’ve completely lost our way as a society,” Dexter said.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2026/02/06/oregon-representative-maxine-dexter-gresham-family-ice-detention/