Demand the shutdown of Irwin Detention Center and that Congress move to
cut funding to ICE and CBP.
[ [link removed] ]Take Action Now
[ [link removed] ]SIGN NOW
Dear Friend,
I’m sitting here in tears of outrage reading the whistleblower report from
an ICE detention facility:
[ [link removed] ]A tweet that says "Whistleblower from ICE detention facility files
complaint alleging "'jarring medical neglect' within the facility,
including a refusal to test detainees for the novel coronavirus and an
exorbitant rate of hysterectomies being performed on immigrant women.""
This brave nurse is exposing not just the appalling medical neglect by ICE
at this facility, but that an “inordinate amount of hysterectomies are
taking place.” [1] In a report by The Intercept, “Another woman said she
simply didn’t understand why the doctor was insisting on an operation or
even exactly what it would be. She had heard from other women that ‘he
just empties you all out.’” [ [link removed] ]
This is human rights abuse and grave reproductive injustice, and it must
stop now. The time for half-measures and slow-walking change are over.
[2]*Demand that ICE immediately shut down the Irwin County Detention
Center and that Congress hold ICE and CBP accountable for continuing human
rights abuses by cutting funding to ICE and CBP in the 2021 budget now.
Click here to sign our petition.
The whistleblower – a nurse, Black woman, and mom of five named Dawn
Wooten working at the Irwin County Detention Center in Georgia, which is
operated by LaSalle Corrections, a private prison company – said it was
“like an experimental concentration camp.” [ [link removed] ] The women who were
undergoing the invasive (and often unnecessary [ [link removed] ]) procedure were often
not told clearly, in their native language, why the procedure was
necessary. One even said she was not properly anesthetized during it.
These abhorrent practices are not without precedent. As the Reproductive
Justice organization Black Mamas Matter Alliance points out, “The U.S. has
consistently targeted Black, Brown, Indigenous, people of color, immigrant
women, and women with disabilities with forced sterilization, birth
control, and experimentation as a means of control, domination, and
extermination.”
There is a long history in the U.S. of cruelty against those who need our
protection the most, and controlling women’s bodies is a recurring
systemic tactic of white supremacy. Enslaved African people were
sterilized against their will in medical experiments, and hospitals around
the country sterilized women of color and poor women well into the 20th
century. [ [link removed] ] This includes the forcible sterilizations of Native Women by
the U.S. Indian Health Service, Mexican women in Los Angeles in the late
60’s and 70s, [ [link removed] ] and as many as 1 in 3 mothers in Puerto Rico who were
sterilized without consent after giving birth in hospitals. [ [link removed] ]
Incarcerated and disabled people have also been forcibly sterilized at
different points in U.S. history.
Now ICE is continuing this legacy. And this is just the latest in a string
of horrifying abuses by ICE. This federal agency, funded by U.S.
taxpayers, has established a clear pattern of sexual abuse and medical
neglect. This is not an isolated incident but rather one of several
stories of abuse coming from within ICE detention centers across the
country. These centers have become nothing but a breeding grounds for
violence and abuse.
[3]*Demand that Irwin Detention Center be shut down and that Congress move
to cut funding to ICE and CBP immediately. Click here to sign our petition
now.
Just last March, Cameroonian women in detention protested severe medical
neglect and mistreatment. [ [link removed] ] And over the past few years, a USA Today
investigation found “over 400 allegations of sexual assault or abuse.
Inadequate medical care. Regular hunger strikes. Frequent use of solitary
confinement. More than 800 instances of physical force against detainees.
Nearly 20,000 grievances filed by detainees. And at least 29 fatalities,
including seven suicides.” [ [link removed] ]
And we all know about the terrible stories of children being kept in
cages, torn from their parents in a program – set up by Trump and his
cronies as a “deterrent” to stop families escaping terrible violence from
coming across the border seeking sanctuary – intended to traumatize
families. [ [link removed] ]
*Demand that Irwin Detention Center be shut down and that Congress move to
cut funding to ICE and CBP:
[4][link removed]
The time to hold ICE accountable is now. The Irwin Detention Center must
be shut down, and Congress must cut funding to ICE and CPB. We cannot
reward continual human rights abuses against Black and Brown communities.
We will not stand by as history repeats itself. It is through our
collective power that we will be able to hold immigration officials
accountable and build a society free of ICE’s cruel practices, where
families will no longer be separated and migrants are treated with dignity
and respect.
Thank you for standing up for human rights and reproductive justice.
-- Nadia, Jordan, Claudia, Kristin, Donna, Xochitl, Gloria, Diarra, Monifa
and the entire MomsRising and MamásConPoder team
References:
[1] Law & Crime, [5]‘Like an Experimental Concentration Camp’:
Whistleblower Complaint Alleges Mass Hysterectomies at ICE Detention
Center’
[2] The Intercept, [6]‘He Just Empties You All Out”: Whistleblower
Reports High Number Of Hysterectomies at ICE Detention Facility’
[3] Medical News Today, [7]‘Almost 1 in 5 hysterectomies are
‘unnecessary,’ study finds’
[4] USA Today, [8]‘ ICE detention center rife with abuse, investigation
finds’
[5] USA Today, [9]‘Sen. Thom Tillis: State eugenics program victims
deserve fair compensation’
[6] UCLA, [10]‘UCLA professor’s film documents forced sterilization of
Mexican women in late ’60s and early ’70s L.A.’
[7] Our Bodies. Ourselves, [ [link removed] ]‘History of Forced Sterilization and
Current U.S. Abuses’
[8] DailyKos, [ [link removed] ]‘A cry for help': Cameroonian women allege medical
neglect, discrimination in ICE detention’
[9] USA Today, [ [link removed] ]‘ ICE detention center rife with abuse, investigation
finds’
[10] Southern Poverty Law Center, [ [link removed] ]‘Family separation under the Trump
administration - a timeline’
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