Georgia, District 5

Women in ICE Detention Given Hysterectomies Without Their Consent
A whistleblower has come forward to expose serious allegations of medical malpractice at a for-profit U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center in Ocilla, Georgia. The whistleblower—who was until recently employed as a nurse at the Irwin County detention center—worked with several non-governmental organizations to file two complaints with… Read More

Immigrant Women and Girls Often Face Abuse, Homelessness After Arriving to the United States
Immigrant women and girls face unique challenges in navigating the U.S. immigration system, their dire circumstances often exacerbated by the gender-based violence they encounter on the journey and upon their arrival to the United States. These struggles were captured in a new report from the Tahirih Justice Center, which surveyed… Read More

Why Are More Pregnant Women Being Held in ICE Detention?
Pregnant women held in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody are required to be released, as detention frequently leads to extreme stress, depression, and in some cases, miscarriage. But over recent months, service providers have witnessed an increase in the number of pregnant women detained by ICE and… Read More

The Detention of Children and Their Families is Still Unjust and Still Against the Law
Detaining immigrant children is nothing new. In 1997, the government settled a lawsuit, Flores v. Reno, about the inhumane treatment of immigrant children held in detention. The settlement agreement said officials would follow a set of minimum national standards for the detention, release, and treatment of children subject to immigration… Read More

Recognizing Immigrant Women’s Needs in Immigration Reform
While the recent debate over reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act and the Trafficking Victims Protection Act may have reminded the nation that there are “women’s issues” in immigration law, it doesn’t necessarily follow that most people regard immigration reform as a woman’s issue. Despite the fact that immigrant women make up a growing share of workers, entrepreneurs, single heads of households, and new voters—while remaining primary caregivers in families—the laws we craft to reform our broken immigration system have often been insensitive to the obstacles and challenges immigrant women face in applying for immigration status. Read More

Incentivizing Arrests for Border Patrol Agents
Strengthening border security, including increasing the number of border patrol agents, continues to be a component of the latest immigration reform proposals, as they have in the past. What may be overlooked in these proposals is the administration’s call for enhanced training to protect civil rights. This is critical, given the results of a new report by Families for Freedom and New York University School of Law’s Immigrant Rights Clinic titled, Uncovering USBP: Bonus Programs for United States Border Patrol Agents and the Arrest of Lawfully Present Individuals. The report describes a series of operational flaws within USBP, including a previously undisclosed employee rewards program to encourage arrests. Read More
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