BIRMINGHAM, AL – The Alabama Coalition for Immigrant Justice (ACIJ) demands immediate investigations by Congress and the DHS Inspector General into allegations of a staggering number of sterilizations of immigrant women at a private ICE detention facility in Georgia.
Horrifying allegations of forced hysterectomies on at least five women detained at the Irwin County Detention Center in Ocilla, Georgia that were performed between October and December 2019, some with no real idea of what had been done to them, were released by a nurse at the Georgia facility.
“The invasion and mutilation of women's bodies shows the level of depravity that DHS has fallen to, by contracting with ICE to detain and abuse immigrants. These centers must be closed immediately. As Congress prepares to pass a funding bill, it must consider these violations”, said Ana Delia Espino, executive director of ACIJ.
These illegal sterilizations must be taken seriously and investigated fully. This cannot be treated as just another outrage. This is genocide. This is the kind torture and abuse that must be exposed, repudiated and abolished.
“We have seen before that this administration is bent on destroying immigrant families. Tearing children from their parents is no longer enough for those in power, they now are annihilating their possibility of existing. These horrors are monstrous acts against our community; the relentless dehumanization of immigrants has led to these abominable practices of genocide toward immigrants and refugees", added Espino.
We call for all detention centers to be shut down and the immediate release of everyone in these for profit installations.