Senate investigation reveals allegations of widespread abuse in ice custody
USA The Senate investigation has identified more than 500 credible reports of human rights violations in immigration detention in the United States since January, including shocking allegations of abuse of pregnant women and children.
As of last month, a recent investigation led by Democratic Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff found 41 cases of physical and sexual abuse; 14 detainees involved in pregnancy and 18 involved children.
The abused accounts spanned facilities in 25 states, including Puerto Rico, U.S. military bases and charter deportation. Among the most distressing people, a pregnant woman bleeded for several days before being taken to the hospital, only moving alone without medical treatment. Others described being forced to sleep on the floor or refusing to eat and have a medical checkup. Attorneys reported that their client’s prenatal checkup was cancelled for several weeks at one time.
Children under 2 years old are also ignored. A U.S. citizen’s child with severe medical needs was hospitalized several times in customs and border protection detention, and an official allegedly told her to “give the girl only one cookie” and dismissed her mother’s help. Another child recovering from brain surgery was reportedly denied follow-up, while a 4-year-old child who received cancer was deported without a doctor.
The Senate investigation found that most reports of abuse at detention centers in Texas, Georgia and California cover facilities operated by the Department of Homeland Security and federal prisons used under Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) protocols. The findings are based on dozens of witness interviews, including on-site inspections at detainees, family members, attorneys, correctional officers, law enforcement officers, doctors and nurses, and on-site inspections at the Texas and Georgia detention centers, Ossoff’s office said.
The report also cites evidenced news investigations and public records, drawing on sources like Wired, Miami Herald, NBC News, CNN, BBC, and regional media such as Louisiana Illuminator and VT Digger.
Together, these sources constitute the “active and ongoing investigation” described by the report to conduct systemic abuse of pregnant women and children in detention in the United States.
ICE did not respond to a wired request for comment.
A connected survey published in late June focused on 911 calls from the country’s 10 largest ice detention centers, revealing a pattern of medical crisis that includes pregnancy complications and suicide attempts, suffering from seizures, head injuries and sexual assault charges. (Wired shared its findings with Ossoff’s office at last month’s request.)
Sources told Wired that detainees often did not respond to urgent calls for help, including multiple cases of severe complications or miscarriages, and no timely medical treatment.
The Trump administration’s detention system is expanding rapidly, with plans to exceed 107,000 beds nationwide. New facilities in West Texas are rising, with a $232 million contract funding tent-style camps in Fort Bliss that can accommodate up to 5,000 people; in Indiana, ICE has reached a deal to place 1,000 detainees in the state prison system.
Florida’s so-called “crocodile alcatraz” cage camp has filed lawsuits regarding human rights violations and environmental damage, while critics warn that relying on military bases and remote rural prisons has absorbed the surge of appropriate processes and blocked public scrutiny.
Civil rights groups and local advocates believe that expansion consolidates systems that have plagued neglect, pointing to reports of miscarriage, untreated diseases and internal violence.
As contracts flow to private prison companies and military facilities, the United States is locking in the largest immigration detention network in the country’s history — critics say not only to hold immigrants, but also to make their pain invisible infrastructure.
