A whistleblower complaint recently brought to light especially disturbing allegations about the treatment of immigrants at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center in Ocilla, Georgia. The complaint, filed by a nurse who worked at the facility until a sudden demotion in July, alleges that federal immigration detainees were subjected to various unnecessary gynecological surgeries, including full hysterectomies, without the consent of the detainees. The complaint alleges that the actions were regular and widespread and that a specialist doctor was brought in to conduct these unnecessary hysterectomies.
COVID-19 Abuses and the “Uterus Collector”
The complaint also alleges a variety of other human rights abuses, including: refusing to test detainees for COVID-19; shredding medical requests submitted by detainees; fabricating medical records; allowing employees who were symptomatic of COVID-19 to continue working while awaiting test results; hiding information from employees and detainees concerning positive COVID-19 tests; and allowing the transfer of detainees, including those who tested positive for coronavirus.
Moreover, the doctor (dubbed the “uterus collector”) who was brought in to perform the hysterectomies (at a rate that the nurse and others noted was especially alarming for such a serious and sterilizing procedure) is apparently not a board-certified OB-GYN. The women who were subjected to the surgeries were allegedly not informed as to why they were seeing a doctor or about what procedure was to be conducted. At times, it has been reported that some staff attempted to get the detainees’ consent by “Googling” Spanish phrases,.
ICE Denies the Claims, Nurse Faces Retaliation
The nurse alleges that she faced “retaliatory reprimand and demotion” in July in part due to “asking hard questions about testing detained immigrants for COVID-19 and warning officers when detained immigrants they are in contact with have tested positive.” She and her attorneys alleged that the detainees were used as test subjects for experimental medical procedures, a claim which ICE fervently denies.
ICE has also dismissed her claims, stating that while it takes all allegations seriously, “in general, anonymous, unproven allegations, made without any fact-checkable specifics, should be treated with the appropriate skepticism they deserve.”
Reminiscent of the United States’ Dark Past
International law and human rights scholars assert that the allegations, if true, constitute war crimes in violation of international law. Forced sterilization is a form of genocide. More than 170 Democrats in Congress signed a letter addressed to the inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security calling for a congressional investigation into the detention center’s practices. The letter cautioned that the allegations sound dangerously close to the forced sterilization performed by various U.S. states in the past as a form of eugenics. The allegations, if proven to be true, suggest an alarming disregard for the sanctity of human life.
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