Pregnant Women Say They Are Being Shackled and Denied Medical Attention in Immigration Detention Centers
The humanitarian crisis in America resulting from the Trump administration's institution of a "zero-tolerance policy" in April continues to unfurl with details emerging every day about what reportedly happens inside the walls of some detention centers.
While much of the outrage has been focused on the separation of families and the conditions for young children, a new Buzzfeed News report states that circumstances for pregnant women can be just as disturbing.
Until recently, according to Buzzfeed, there was an Obama-era directive in place that stated pregnant women were not to be detained, except in extreme circumstances or rare cases of expedited deportation. But the new Trump administration policy makes no such exception and states that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is responsible for "ensuring pregnant detainees receive appropriate medical care including effectuating transfers to facilities that are able to provide appropriate medical treatment.”
However, Buzzfeed's reporting shows that this may not be happening—and women are suffering. The outlet talked to one woman (who wanted to keep her identity private for fear of repercussions) seeking asylum in the U.S. from El Salvador. During her time in an Arizona facility where she was pregnant, she says that she began to bleed and feared she was suffering a miscarriage.
“An official arrived and they said it was not a hospital and they weren’t doctors. They wouldn’t look after me,” she said. “I realized I was losing my son. It was his life that I was bleeding out. I was staining everything. I spent about eight days just lying down. I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t do anything. I started crying and crying and crying.”
“My soul aches that there are many pregnant women coming who could lose their babies like I did and that they will do nothing to help them,” she continued.
Buzzfeed has also spoken to or received written affidavits from four other women who say that they were denied proper medical care or attention while pregnant and being held either by ICE or Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Some alleged incidents of physical abuse by CBP officers. (Per Buzzfeed, legal aid and medical workers interviewed confirmed that they have seen—and sometimes documented—cases of pregnant women not receiving or being denied medical care in more than six different detention centers in the Southwest.
“All detainees, determined to be pregnant, are provided appropriate education, prenatal care, and postnatal care,” ICE officials said in a statement. “Such care includes referral to a physician specializing in high-risk pregnancies when high-risk pregnancy is indicated.” They also referred to the policy as written on its website. While ICE and CBP referred to their website, the Department of Homeland Security did not individually respond to Buzzfeed’s request for comment.
Outrage, of course, began anew once the story broke—from private citizens to U.S. Senators like Kirsten Gillibrand.
It remains to be seen if this public outcry will change the situation for these women.
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