The Trump administration is still detaining pregnant migrant youth in a region of Texas where a lack of specialized obstetric care can be life threatening for them, an investigation by The Texas Newsroom and The California Newsroom has found. The practice continues despite vocal concern from current and former government officials, and from members of Congress.

Government records show that in the first ten months of the policy, four of the 21 pregnant girls placed in the region had to be transferred out of state to receive specialized medical care, including at least one abortion, that is unavailable in Texas.

“The first time that happened should have been a wake-up call for the administration, and they should have stopped placing kids in any remote area where they can’t get care,” said Jen Smyers, who during the Biden administration helped oversee the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), which is responsible for migrant youth who are apprehended by immigration authorities without a parent or guardian.

She called the policy to send all pregnant children to South Texas “enraging.”

This spring, The Texas Newsroom and The California Newsroom published a joint investigation revealing the administration’s policy of detaining pregnant unaccompanied minors as young as 13, at least half of whom were pregnant as a result of rape, at a single shelter in the city of San Benito near Texas’ border with Mexico. The investigation detailed serious concerns that health experts inside and outside the government had raised about the policy, given that adolescent pregnancies are inherently high risk and there is a lack of specialized obstetric care in the region.

Since then, the administration has denied that there is such a policy and said it is ensuring that the girls have access to the care they need.

In an email in September the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees ORR, wrote that “ORR’s policies for placing children in its custody into care provider facilities are based on child welfare best practices in order to provide a safe environment and place the child in the least restrictive setting appropriate for the child’s needs. This is especially true for expectant minors in ORR care.”