Pregnant Cuban Woman Detained, Taken to Maternity Ward Under Guard
Sergei and Mercedes met in Moscow
In Pervouralsk, a pregnant Cuban woman named Mercedes was detained after an appointment at a private clinic and taken to Yekaterinburg. Today she began having Braxton Hicks contractions, and she had to go to the maternity hospital under guard.
Mercedes is about to give birth: the preliminary date is August 19
Mercedes«s boyfriend is ready to take the child, but the couple never formalized their relationship. Sergei is worried that Mercedes will be deported to Cuba with the baby and is concerned about her health. We tell their story.
According to Mercedes herself, the center has no conditions for keeping a child
They Asked the Cuban Consulate for Help
Sergei and Mercedes met in Moscow, and their relationship began quickly. At the time, the man from the Urals did not know that the Cuban woman had an expired migration card and no work permit, since she continued to work in the capital without issue.
The couple flew to Yekaterinburg for a vacation, where Mercedes became pregnant. Sergei paid for her appointments at private clinics. It was then that they discovered the woman had problems with her documents.
At first, the young man focused on the woman«s health, and a little later they went to Moscow, where they turned to the Cuban consulate for help with processing her documents. At that point, the woman was in her second trimester of pregnancy.
There was no response from the consulate, so the couple went to Pervouralsk, Sergei«s hometown. During all this time, they had not managed to formalize their relationship.
“The third trimester began, and Mercedes was undergoing an examination by a therapist at a private clinic. When we left the hospital, we were detained by migration service officers. This happened literally a week ago,” Sergei told E1.RU. “At the same time, there was very little time left before the birth; on August 17 she was supposed to be admitted to the hospital, and the preliminary date was set for August 19.”
At the migration service, Mercedes«s passport and its notarized translation were confiscated.
“I turned to a lawyer; I would like to keep the family together. For me, the child is a priority. And it is important that he grows up in a complete family,” Sergei noted.
To the Maternity Hospital Under Guard
From Pervouralsk, Mercedes was brought to Yekaterinburg; she is being held in a temporary detention center, where conditions for pregnant women are not the best.
The woman is now in her 39th week of pregnancy, and today, August 18, she began having Braxton Hicks contractions. Under guard, she was taken to one of the city hospitals and then taken back to the Center for Temporary Detention of Foreign Nationals in Yekaterinburg.
“The question is at least for the father to be able to take the child, because the conditions at the migrant center are terrible — a baby does not belong there,” said Veronika Alexandrovna Nikitina, a representative of the company “Pravo i Zakon” (Law and Order). “The child could either be sent to Cuba together with her, which the parents do not want, or placed in an orphanage. Mercedes herself has asthma, and there are smokers in the same room.”
Sergei went to the office of the Sverdlovsk region ombudsman to ask for assistance in resolving the issue.
“Mercedes«s pain has intensified, she can barely walk, and she was sent back to the police. I believe her health is being treated negligently; she was not even given painkillers,” Sergei noted.
The E1.RU editorial team also reached out to the press service of the Yekaterinburg police for comment. As soon as we receive a response, the news will be updated.
Earlier, we told the story of a migrant who moved to Yekaterinburg from Tajikistan with his wife and seven children. Jamshut had to live in a crumbling house without furniture, and because of this, he was threatened with deportation, since children should not live in such conditions.
