Immigration and Customs Enforcement used to release pregnant women from custody in compliance with a policy from former President Barack Obama. However, with Trump administration policy changes underway, this will no longer be the case. Instead, ICE reported that it will no longer release women on the sole basis that they are pregnant, and those women will be treated the same as all detainees. Additionally, ICE says it will continue to provide prenatal care, education, and access to specialists for pregnant women.
Aligning with an executive order issued by President Trump last year that forces ICE to comply with current immigration laws, the agency began implementing changes in its detention facilities across the nation. Since the changes, more than 500 pregnant women have been detained, and ICE has said that men and women should be treated the same because women are as capable as men when it comes to committing heinous crimes.
Taking everything into account, however, it is no secret that ICE’s detention facilities are the last place pregnant women need to be because of the poor health services available to detainees. Since 2017, for instance, 12 detainees have died in ICE custody, and more than 170 have perished since 2003, according to the Community Initiatives for Visiting Immigrants in Confinement.
Last year, the Homeland Security Department investigated five detention facilities in the country and found that four had significant problems that needed to be addressed. Furthermore, it has been reported by the West Texas Detention Facility in Sierra Blanca that officers have been found to deny health care to detainees in privately owned detention facilities.
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While pregnant women fared well under the Obama administration, under the new policy, it is clear to see that this will no longer be the case. Because of the time court proceedings can take on immigration matters, pregnant women can be held in detention centers any time from a few weeks to months. And during the time spent in custody, women are vulnerable to improper treatment.
In the past few years, horrendous stories have surfaced in the media, such as the case of Jennye Pagoada Lopez of Honduras. While in custody, Lopez was one of two women who suffered miscarriages because of being denied basic health care even though the detention facility in which she was being held was aware of her high-risk pregnancy. In 2017, a complaint was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union with Homeland Security regarding 10 pregnant women experiencing little to no medical care during their time in detention facilities, which also resulted in miscarriages.
Under these new policy reforms implemented by the Trump Administration, it is clear to see that pregnant women will suffer during their time in custody with ICE. There is no excuse for prenatal care – or any form medical care – to be ignored by detention facilities because in their entirety, they are basic human rights. It is a sad day in the U.S. when women fear losing their unborn children based on the lack of medical care provided to them by a system that is supposed to assist.