ICE Is the New Face of America’s Legacy of Forced Sterilization

Earlier this week, multiple human rights organizations filed a complaint on behalf of women detained at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Georgia. Based on accounts from detainees and corroborated by a nurse who worked at the facility, the Irwin County Detention Center, the complaint alleges multiple examples of substandard medical care, particularly around coronavirus prevention and treatment. But what has drawn the most public outcry is allegations of what has been described as mass hysterectomies or sterilizations.

“When I met all these women who had had surgeries, I thought this was like an experimental concentration camp. It was like they’re experimenting with our bodies,” one detained immigrant told Project South, one of the groups who filed the complaint. She said she knew of five other women detained with her at ICDC who said they had undergone hysterectomies between October and December 2019. “I’ve had several inmates tell me that they’ve been to see the doctor and they’ve had hysterectomies and they don’t know why they went or why they’re going,” said Dawn Wooten, the nurse who worked...