As the US Mother’s Day holiday approaches on Sunday, we want to take a moment to recognize what a dangerous and uncertain time this is for mothers and mothers-to-be caught in the US immigration detention and deportation system.
US immigration policy requires that ICE protect family unity by giving parents who are being deported the opportunity to decide what happens to their minor children. ICE also has guidelines that counsel against the detention of pregnant, postpartum, and nursing women except under exigent circumstances. Yet we know—based on testimony WRC and Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) received from deported people and service providers in Honduras, as well as from ICE itself—that the agency is violating its own policies.
WRC and the National Immigration Law Center analyzed an ICE data release. Among our takeaways:
- 16 known miscarriages have occurred in ICE custody from January 2025 to February 2026, raising serious questions about how detention conditions may have contributed to pregnancy losses.
- More than 10 percent of pregnant women listed as in DHS custody as of February 16, 2026 were in their third trimester. Detention centers are not equipped to provide the specialized health care that could be needed for complications during this stage of pregnancy.
- Almost 400 pregnant, postpartum, or nursing women were deported from January 2025 to February 2026. The process of being deported can be extremely dangerous for women in this condition.
Meanwhile, WRC and PHR’s research in Honduras revealed that deported parents had been separated from their children—including infants—against their will. That investigation, as well as our Detention Pregnancy Tracker tool, also found evidence of medical neglect of pregnant women in immigration detention and during deportation.
This needs to end. That’s why we applaud the introduction of the Humane Enforcement and Legal Protections (HELP) for Separated Children Act last week. The legislation would codify critical protections for detained parents facing deportation and establish safeguards to support reunification for parents who have already been deported and are seeking to reconnect with their children.
Furthermore, we call on ICE to enforce their own directive to protect pregnant, postpartum, and nursing women, and we call on Congress to codify protections for this vulnerable population.
If you’d like to support our work on behalf of migrant mothers and displaced women and girls around the world, please consider making a Mother’s Day gift in honor of a mother in your own life. Just choose “add a dedication” when you make your donation.
Thank you for standing up for migrant mothers, who deserve to be honored, protected, and respected not only on Mother’s Day, but every single day of the year.