Children, Pregnant Women Mistreated in Immigration Detention, Sen. Ossoff Says

An investigation conducted by Sen. Jon Ossoff’s office (D-Georgia) has revealed rampant human rights violations committed against immigrants in detention in the first six months of President Donald Trump’s second term, including dozens of incidents involving the mistreatment of children and pregnant women.

Of the 510 credible reports of human rights abuses uncovered by the investigation, Ossoff’s office identified 41 reports of physical and sexual abuse of people in immigration detention, 14 reports of mistreatment of pregnant women, and 18 reports of mistreatment of children.

During the senator’s monthslong investigation, which began in January, Ossoff’s staff “interviewed and received credible reports of abuse from dozens of witnesses and sources, including correctional staff, law enforcement officials, attorneys, detainees and their family members, doctors, and nurses.”

They spoke with 46 people in detention and conducted numerous site visits, although “obstruction of Congressional oversight by the Department of Homeland Security has been an impediment to site visits and interviews with detainees.”

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) called the report “garbage” and denied the allegations of abuse. Ossoff said DHS’s response is “absurd.”

“For DHS to immediately issue a blanket denial without any due-diligence or investigations of these credible reports of human rights abuses in U.S. facilities, is absurd,” Ossoff said. “It suggests they don’t take seriously their obligation to investigate credible reports of human rights abuses in their facilities.”

The senator’s investigation reported on several incidents that involved the mistreatment of children. In one case, a child, who is a U.S. citizen, was hospitalized three times while detained with her mother.

“[W]hen the girl began vomiting blood, the mother begged for medical attention,” the report says. “A CBP guard reportedly responded, ‘Just give the girl a cracker.’”

In another case, a family was arrested and detained on their way to an emergency medical appointment for their daughter who was recovering from brain surgery. The government also deported a 4-year-old who was receiving treatment for kidney cancer. In April, immigration officers abducted the child and his sister, who are both U.S. citizens, along with their mother when they arrived for an immigration appointment. Within 24 hours, they were deported to Honduras.

Ossoff’s office identified more than a dozen credible reports of mistreatment of pregnant women detained by DHS. They have been denied adequate medical care and timely checkups, as well as sufficient meals and snacks, according to the investigation. One anonymous agency official reported “seeing pregnant women sleeping on floors in overcrowded intake cells.”

A partner of a pregnant woman in DHS custody relayed their horrific experience to Ossoff’s office. The woman bled for days before she was taken to the hospital, where “she was reportedly left in a room, alone, to miscarry without water or medical assistance, for over 24 hours.” DHS denied reports of pregnant women sleeping on the floor without providing evidence and insisted that detention of pregnant women is “rare.”

Meredyth Yoon, litigation director at Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Atlanta, told NBC News that she met with the woman, who was 23 years old and had been living in Georgia. The woman told Yoon that she had experienced and witnessed “terrible conditions,” including, NBC News reported, “overcrowding, people forced to sleep on the floor, inadequate access to nutrition and medical care, as well as abusive treatment by the guards, lack of information about their case and limited ability to contact their loved ones and legal support.”

The senator’s investigation also uncovered numerous allegations of physical and sexual abuse against immigrants. At the El Paso Service Processing Center in Texas, staff slammed a man’s head in the ground and handcuffed him for stepping out of line in the dining hall, according to the man’s attorneys. At another lockup, staff reportedly forced at least seven people into “stress positions” to punish them for “laughing and conversing.”

There were at least two 911 calls from the Adelanto ICE Processing Center in California “referencing reported sexual assaults or threats of sexual assaults,” and at least four emergency calls from the South Texas ICE Processing Center referenced sexual abuse. The private prison company GEO Group owns both lockups.

Victims held at Miami’s Federal Detention Center, which is run by the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), said they were held in a “small room” for “hours on end,” with just one toilet, and no access to food or water, according to the report. Pursuant to an agreement between DHS and BOP), which runs the federal prison system, immigrants can be detained in BOP’s prisons if DHS lockups are full.
“Regardless of our views on immigration policy, the American people do not support the abuse of detainees and prisoners,” Ossoff told NBC News. “It’s more important than ever to shine a light on what’s happening behind bars and barbed wire, especially and most shockingly to children.”