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Hi,
As the nation's attention is understandably focused on Trump having the coronavirus and on the Supreme Court, we must continue to remember and stop the violence being done to immigrant women.
Last week members of Congress heard directly from immigrant women that ICE has been performing forced hysterectomies on detainees, often without their knowledge or consent.1 If true, there's a word for this: genocide.2
Organizations like Project South, Georgia Detention Watch, and the Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights, have filed official complaints.3 Representatives Ayanna Pressley, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Pramila Jayapal have called for an investigation.4 We support their call -- and they need your help to get the government to act.
We need to sound the loudest alarms possible to investigate and end forced sterilizations immediately!
Sign the petition: Investigate and end forced sterilizations in ICE detention camps now!
Forced sterilization is genocide. Period. The World Health Organization classifies forced sterilization as a human rights violation.5 More than that, forced sterilization is a form of eugenics and was a precursor to the rise of Nazism and fascism a century ago.
This is a serious allegation and needs to be investigated immediately. Many women detained in ICE camps are fleeing wars, ethnic genocide, political instability, and terrifying levels of crime and gang violence. For them, making it to the US is their last hope for survival and safety.
But now, in ICE camps, under US custody, ICE agents are allegedly allowing an outside doctor to perform hysterectomies detained women without the knowledge, consent, or full understanding of what's being done to their bodies. That's in addition to the other horrors that have already been documented in these camps.
Our allies in Congress are stepping up to demand action. Our allies need you to speak up now to make sure this is investigated and justice is served.
Thanks for taking action,
Tihi and the team at Demand Progress
More information from on-the-ground organizations leading the fight:
Project South
Georgia Detention Watch
Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights
Sources:
1. Yahoo! News, "An ICE Nurse Revealed That A Georgia Detention Center Is Performing Mass Hysterectomies," September 14, 2020.
2. Common Dreams, "'Forced Sterilization Is Genocide': Rights Groups Condemn ICE Amid Whistleblower's Allegations of Unwarranted Hysterectomies," September 15, 2020.
3. CNN, "Whistleblower alleges high rate of hysterectomies and medical neglect at ICE facility," September 15, 2020.
4. Tweet from Rep. Ayanna Pressley, September 14, 2020.
5. World Health Organization, "Eliminating forced, coercive and otherwise involuntary sterilization," May 2014.
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