Overview
- An ACLU-led coalition sent a letter on Oct. 22 documenting first-hand accounts from pregnant immigrants in ICE custody and urging the agency to stop detaining pregnant, postpartum, and nursing individuals.
- The letter alleges women were shackled during transport, placed in solitary confinement, denied prenatal vitamins and adequate food and water, and faced delayed or substandard medical care that included miscarriages and severe infections.
- Advocates say they interviewed more than a dozen women and publicly detailed six cases from detention centers in Basile, Louisiana, and Lumpkin, Georgia, using pseudonyms because detainees fear retaliation.
- DHS and ICE dispute claims of systemic mistreatment, asserting detainees receive prenatal visits, mental health services, nutritional support, and 24-hour emergency care, and they have not provided comprehensive figures on how many pregnant people are detained.
- The push follows an August review by Sen. Jon Ossoff’s office identifying 14 credible alleged incidents of mistreatment and separate calls from senators to limit detention of pregnant people to exceptional circumstances.