Oregon Rep. Maxine Dexter, D-Portland, announced plans Tuesday to visit the Oregon family currently being held at a Texas immigration detention center where multiple cases of measles have broken out.

Detention of the Crespo-Gonzalez family, and in particular of 7-year-old Diana de Crespo, has caused widespread concern among Oregon elected officials. Immigration officers arrested the family of three on Jan. 16 outside Portland Adventist Health, where they were seeking medical care for Diana’s nosebleed that had lasted all night.

According to a statement from Dexter’s office, the congresswoman will visit the Crespo-Gonzalez family at the South Texas Family Residential in Dilley, Texas, on Thursday and Friday this week.

“No child, but especially not a sick second grader on the way to urgent care, should be detained by ICE and then trapped in a facility with active measles cases,” Dexter said in the announcement.

According to Ana Linares, a close friend of the family who has spoken with them several times since their detention, Diana was sick with a fever for two days in the detention center. Linares said Diana eventually saw a doctor at the facility, but not until two days after her fever broke.

Dexter is a physician who specializes in the respiratory system.

Reports of inadequate food, water and medical care at the detention are widespread.

A relative of the Crespo-Gonzalez family recently told OPB that the family has to purchase bottled water because the water provided by the facility made Diana feel sick and lethargic.

According to Linares, the family had lived in Oregon less than four months before they were detained by immigration officials. They had moved to Gresham from Utah, where they initially settled after entering the U.S. through California, she said. Linares said she and her family entered the U.S. with the Crespo-Gonzalez through a port of entry following an appointment with U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Linares said the family has a pending asylum application and father Yohendry De Jesus Crespo and mother Darianny Liseth Gonzalez De Crespo had recently obtained permits to work in the U.S.

Dexter said she’s made numerous inquiries on the family’s behalf, including “demanding a wellness check, medical attention, and an explanation of the basis for their detention.”

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2026/02/03/dexter-visit-gresham-family-detention-center/