Congressional Hispanic Caucus Statement on Investigation of Irwin County Detention Center

WASHINGTON—Today, September 26, 2020, Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) and House Judiciary Committee members traveled to Georgia to investigate the Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Irwin County Detention Center, where multiple immigrant women have alleged hysterectomies and other medical procedures were performed without their consent.Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, CHC members have inspected ICE facilities in Texas and Nevada to raise the alarm about the spread of COVID-19 and serious abuses of human rights. Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chairman Joaquin Castro (TX-20) issued the following statement after the oversight visit to theIrwin County Detention Center:

"The stories and scenes inside theIrwin County Detention Center were horrific. Women showed us the medical documents of gynecological procedures that they never gave consent for or fully understood. Women told us that they often refused medical care out of fear of never being able to have children. One woman described the experience being detained as torture. And make no mistake, this facility is prison. It's a for-profit prison making money off of people's suffering. The living conditions inside were ripe for a major coronavirus outbreak, and people detained had just received new masks because of our arrival. The list of human rights abuses is long and must be accounted for andfully investigated.

"The DHS Inspector General must investigate, the FBI should look into any criminal misconduct, and Congress will keep demanding answers and accountability for all wrongdoing. Women who speak up about what they experienced or witnessed must not be retaliated against or deported — they must be released.The conditions of immigrants in U.S. government custody will remain a top CHC priority, and we're calling on ICE to swiftly and safely release people detained."

# # #

The Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC), founded in December 1976, is organized as a Congressional Member organization, governed under the Rules of the U.S. House of Representatives. The CHC is dedicated to voicing and advancing, through the legislative process, issues affecting Hispanics in the United States, Puerto Rico and U.S. Territories.