Yohendry De Jesus Crespo, Darianny Liseth Gonzalez De Crespo and Diana Crespo, shown here in a photo provided by a friend of the family, were detained by immigration agents outside Portland Adventist Health on Friday, Jan. 16, 2026.
Ana Linares
After three weeks in a Texas immigration detention center, an Oregon family is coming home, according to U.S. Rep. Maxine Dexter, who announced the family’s release on Friday afternoon.
In a statement Friday, the Democratic congresswoman said she is “escorting” the Crespo-Gonzalez family home to Oregon. Immigration officials detained the family of three Jan. 16 as they arrived at Portland Adventist Health seeking medical attention for their 7-year-old daughter Diana.
Dexter had attempted to gain access to the South Texas Family Residential Facility Thursday, but was unable. The Friday statement from Dexter doesn’t disclose details of the family’s health, nor does it mention details of their return “out of respect for the family.”
The detention of Diana, her mother Darianny Liseth Gonzalez De Crespo and father Yohendry De Jesus Crespo marked one of the first known cases of an entire Oregon family being arrested by immigration officers, according to the Portland Immigrants Rights Coalition.
Dayanny Gonzalez, the sister of the detained mother Darianny Liseth Gonzalez De Crespo, told OPB from the little she was able to speak with her sister, the family is doing well.
Just a few days prior, Dayanny said she was worried for the health of Diana, who was reportedly only eating bread with mayonnaise in the detention facility because of the poor food quality and lack of options. A friend of the family also told OPB Diana contracted a fever in the first few days in detention.
Reports of inadequate food, water and medical care at the Texas detention center are widespread. Earlier this week officials also reported two cases of measles at the facility.
The center, which is one of only two immigration detention facilities specifically for children and families in the country, recently entered the national spotlight as 5-year-old Liam Ramos and his father were detained at the facility following their apprehension in Minnesota, and released earlier this week.
On Friday evening, Dayanny, Diana’s aunt, expressed gratitude to God and everyone who followed the family’s case.
“I was so worried about my niece because she wasn’t receiving proper medical attention or eating well,” Dayanny told OPB in Spanish. “She’s so young and she kept telling me ‘Auntie, I don’t want to be here anymore,’ and it just broke my heart.”
The fact that the family was arrested while seeking medical care for Diana alarmed leaders in Oregon, including Gov. Tina Kotek and Dexter. Until last year, immigration officials were barred from making arrests at sensitive locations like hospitals, churches and schools. President Donald Trump reversed that policy in his first week back in office.
“I’m filled with joy that our Oregon family is coming home and yet outraged for the many other children and families who remain imprisoned by our government. Detention of children and families is immoral,” Dexter said in Friday’s statement. “End family detention. Defund and dismantle ICE. That is the moral path forward.”
According to Innovation Law Lab, the legal clinic representing the Crespo-Gonzalez family, they came to the U.S. from Venezuela in 2024 and had a pending asylum case.
