ICE Detentions Are Failing Pregnant Women. Again.

In 2022, Senator Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) hosted a hearing about his investigation into the medical treatment of women in ICE custody. The findings, he said then, were “extraordinarily disturbing,” “nightmarish and disgraceful,” and “a catastrophic failure by the Federal Government to respect basic human rights.” He launched another investigation in 2024, condemning the “shocking and horrifying picture of pervasive abuse and mistreatment of pregnant women in American prisons and jails.” And just last week, his office released its latest report on the matter–and it reveals just how horrible the nightmare has become.

The findings, based on a monthslong investigation and published by NBC News, cited 510 credible instances of human rights abuses–14 of which were related to the mistreatment of pregnant women. Such offenses included “not receiving adequate medical care and timely checkups, not receiving urgent care when needed, being denied snacks and adequate meals, and being forced to sleep on the floor due to overcrowding.”

“The reports of mistreatment from inside Georgia’s detention facilities matches what we have heard elsewhere. These are not isolated abuses but appear to be part of a sustained pattern of mistreatment and neglect…,” Zain Lakhani, director of Migrant Rights and Justice at the Women’s Refugee Commission, told Jezebel. “We have spoken to deported women who reported being so malnourished that they were unable to lactate, or who were unable to access even urgent medical care.”